precision, indicated the methodical business habits of its owner,
sat Hugh Mainwaring, senior member of the firm of Mainwaring & Co.,
a man approaching his fiftieth birthday. His dress and manners,
less pronouncedly English than those of the remaining two, betokened
the polished man of the world as well as the shrewd financier. He
wore an elegant business suit and his linen was immaculate; his
hair, dark and slightly tinged with gray, was closely cut; his
smoothly shaven face, less florid than those of his companions,
was particularly noticeable on account of a pair of dark gray
eyes, cold and calculating, and which had at times a steel-like
glitter. Though an attractive face, it was not altogether pleasing;
it was too sensuous, and indicated stubbornness and self-will rather
than firmness or strength.

Half reclining upon a couch on the opposite side of the room, in an
attitude more comfortable than graceful, leisurely smoking a fine
Havana, was Ralph Mainwaring, of London, a cousin of the New York
broker, who, at the invitation of the latter, was paying his first
visit to the great western metropolis. Between the two cousins
there were few points of resemblance. Both had the same cold,
calculating gaze, which made one, subjected to its scrutiny, feel
that he was being mentally weighed and measured and would, in all
probability, be found lacking; but the Londoner possessed a more
phlegmatic temperament. A year or two his cousin's junior, he
looked considerably younger; as his hair and heavy English side
whiskers were unmixed with gray and he was inclined to stoutness.

Seated near him, in an immense arm-chair which he filled admirably,
was William Mainwaring Thornton, of London, also a guest of Hugh
Mainwaring and distantly connected with the two cousins. He was