the time for settlement came. It was folly to suppose that my credit at
the Nevada was of this size. But I put a bold face on it, gave a check
for the figure that Eppner named, and rose.

"Any more orders?" he asked.

"Not till afternoon."

As I passed into the street I was astonished at the swift
transformation that had come over it. The block about the Exchange was
crowded with a tossing throng, hundreds upon hundreds pushing toward
its fateful doors. But where cheerfulness and hope had ruled, fear and
gloom now vibrated in electric waves before me. The faces turned to the
pitiless, polished granite front of the great gambling-hall were white
and drawn, and on them sat Ruin and Despair. The men were for the most
part silent, with here and there one cursing; the women, who were there
by scores, wept and mourned; and from the multitudes rose that peculiar
whisper of crowds that tells of apprehension of things worse to come.
And this, I must believe, was the work of Doddridge Knapp.




CHAPTER X

A TANGLE OF SCHEMES


Doddridge Knapp was seated calmly in my office when I opened the door.
There was a grim smile about the firm jaws, and a satisfied glitter in