"
Wingrave shrugged his shoulders.
"It is perhaps fortunate for the continuation of our mutual relations
that you did not think of it," he remarked quietly. "I accept your
denial. I shall expect you back at one o'clock."
At a few minutes after that hour the two men sat down to luncheon.
Wingrave at that time was the possessor of six thousand shares in the
Royal Hardwell Copper Mine, which had cost him, on an average, two
dollars twenty-five. The news of the dealing, however, had got about,
and although derision was the chief sentiment amongst the brokers, the
price steadily mounted. A dozen telegrams were sent out to the mine,
and on receipt of the replies, the dealing became the joke of the day.
The mine was still deserted, and no fresh inspection had been made.
The price dropped a little. Then Wingrave bought a thousand more by
telephone, and it rose again to four. A few minutes before closing
time, he threw every share of which he was possessed upon the market,
and the next morning Royal Hardwells stood at one dollar seventy-five.
For a week Wingrave pursued the same tactics, and at the end of that
time he had made twenty thousand dollars. The brokers, however, now
understood, or thought they understood, the situation. No one bought
for the rise; they were all sellers. Wingrave at once changed his
tactics. He bought five thousand shares in one block, and sold none.
Even then, the market was only mildly amused.
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