It looked sure. I have a
friend over there and got it on credit. I banked on an immediate sale and
a big profit. But something delayed the shipping in Hong Kong. When it
arrived the market was swamped. Some one else had had the same idea. I had
to pay for the goods, as well as other big outstanding bills, or go into
bankruptcy. So I took the bonds. It wasn't easy. But there was nothing else
to do....There were about ten thousand dollars left and I tried another
coup. That failed too."
"How is it possible to go on with the business?"
"It isn't. I have closed out. But I have escaped bankruptcy. People on
the street think that I wanted to get into the real estate business--with
Andrew Weston, a young man who has recently come here from Los Angeles.
He's doing fairly well and has a good office. He wanted a hustler and a
partner who had good connections. But it is slow work. There are the old
firms, again, to compete with. I wouldn't have looked at it if I'd had any
choice, but it was a case of a port in a storm."
"Well? Is that all? There is another matter to discuss. Our future mode of
living."
"No, it isn't all. I wish you would tell Gora something. I can never go
through this again. While she was away--in Honolulu--that lawyer of my aunt
sent out ten thousand dollars' worth more of stock, that had been looked
upon as so much waste paper, but suddenly appreciated--some little railroad
that was abandoned half finished, but has since been completed.
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