That is--understand me correctly--I did not see it
well enough to be sure whom it might belong to. It might even have been
one of my own ties, some old rag I have ceased to use. It is a peculiarity
of mine never to remember my own ties; I notice them so little, I
imagine--So things are coming around, as I said. And if my big trade now
succeeds, perhaps that will bring luck for us all. It would be fun to show
her that I am not such a dunce, ha, ha!"
The two friends talked a little further, after which Tidemand went to the
telegraph office. He was full of hope. His great idea was to discount the
crisis, to hold enormous supplies of grain when nobody else should have
any. He would succeed! He walked with a springy step, like a youth, and
avoided meeting anybody who might detain him.
* * * * *
A telegram to the foreign office announced five days later that the
Russian government, owing to the shortage of grain and the dark outlook
for the coming harvests, had been obliged to prohibit all exports of rye,
wheat, corn, and grist from the harbours of Russia and Finland.
Tidemand's calculations had proven correct.
Pages:
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153