I'd better try my home bank. I didn't do that, of course, because
Montgomery is a small town and--well, I'd rather not advertise my
affairs to a whole community. I'm not a business man and these things
all seem terribly complicated and embarrassing to me."

"But you tried other places besides Adams? I saw it in your eye when you
came home this evening that you had struck a snag. Well, well! So money
is tight, is it? I must speak to Tom Adams about that. He told me
yesterday they had more money than they could lend and that the banks
were cutting down their dividends. He's no banker; he ought to be in the
old-clothes business."

"I can't blame him. I suppose my not being in business, and not living
here, makes a difference."

"Rubbish! But you ought to have come to me. You spoke of stock; what's
that in?"

"Shares in the White River Canneries. I put all I had in that company.
Everybody seemed to make money in the canning business and I thought it
would be a good investment. It promised well in the prospectus."

"It always does, Andrew," replied the old lady dryly. "Let me see,
Morton Bassett was in that."

"I believe so. He was one of the organizers."

"Um."

"Adams told me to-day there had been a reorganization and that my shares