announced.

The financier was sitting in his study by the window, looking through the
newspapers. When Serge entered he rose. The two men stood facing each
other for a moment. The Prince was the first to speak.

"How is it that you have kept me without news during your absence?"
asked he, harshly.

"Because," replied Herzog, calmly, "the only news I had was not good
news."

"At least I should have known it."

"Would the result of the operation have been different?"

"You have led me like a child in this affair," Serge continued, becoming
animated. "I did not know where I was going. You made me promises, how
have you kept them?"

"As I was able," quietly answered Herzog. "Play has its chances. One
seeks Austerlitz and finds Waterloo."

"But," cried the Prince, angrily, "the shares which you sold ought not to
have gone out of your hands."

"You believed that?" retorted the financier, ironically. "If they ought
not to have gone out of my hands it was hardly worth while putting them
into them."