The various conferences over Storri's enterprise, and the consequent
coming together of Storri and Mr. Harley, took place a few weeks prior
to Richard's appearance in this chronicle. Both Storri and Mr. Harley
were fond of stocks in their ups and downs, and now, being much
together, they were in and out as partners in a dozen different deals.
Mr. Harley attended to most of these; and Storri learned certain
peculiarities belonging to that gentleman. Mr. Harley, for one solvent
matter, was penurious to the point of dimes; also, Mr. Harley took no
risks. Mr. Harley was willing to book a joint deal in both Storri's name
and his own; or in his own for the common good of Storri and himself.
But Mr. Harley would not give a joint order solely in Storri's name.
Evidently, Mr. Harley would not trust Storri to divide profits with him
where the case rested only upon that Russian's honor. No more would he
draw his own check for Storri's margins; and one day our nobleman lost
money because of Mr. Harley's cautious delicacy in that behalf. The
market went the wrong way, and Storri could not be found when additional
margins were called for. Whereupon Mr. Harley closed out his friend at a
loss of seven thousand dollars.

Storri knitted his brows when he knew, but offered no comment. In fact,
he treated the affair so lightly that Mr. Harley felt relieved; that
latter speculator had been somewhat disturbed in his mind concerning
Storri's opinion of what, to give it a best description, evinced niggard
distrust of Storri, and cast in negative fashion a slur upon that
gentleman.

Mr. Harley was too ready with his belief in Storri's indifference; that
the latter, for all his surface stoicism, took a serious, not to say a
revengeful, view of the business, found indication on a later painful
day. The experience taught Storri that he might expect neither favor nor