share in the National Coal undertaking, he had directed me to push Textile
up toward par and unload him of two or three hundred thousand shares--he,
of course, to repurchase the shares after he had taken profits and Textile
had dropped back to its normal fifty.

"I'll have it up to ninety-eight by the middle of next month," said I. "And
there I think we'd better stop."

"Stop at about ninety," said he. "That will give me all I find I'll need
for this Coal business. I don't want to be bothered with hunting up an
investment."

I shook my head. "I must put it up to within a point or two of par," I
declared. "In my public letter I've been saying it would go above
ninety-five, and I never deceive my public."

He smiled--my notion of honesty always amused him. "As you please," he
said with a shrug. Then I saw a serious look--just a fleeting flash of
warning--behind his smiling mask; and he added carelessly: "Be careful
about your own personal play. I doubt if Textile can be put any higher."

It must have been my mood that prevented those words from making the
impression on me they should have made. Instead of appreciating at once
and at its full value this characteristic and amazingly friendly signal
of caution, I showed how stupidly inattentive I was by saying: "Something
doing? Something new?"

But he had already gone further than his notion of friendship warranted. So
he replied: "Oh, no. Simply that everything's uncertain nowadays."