1 2 The Home of the Wolverene mid Beaver. 



pull off trumps it won't so much matter, for the loss 

 will not affect you, and you viay double your stake. 

 Besides it will be some amusement for you, and 

 drag you out of your den in Surrey. What do you 

 say 1 Shall I plunge for you ?" 



It was in all good-feeling and with the very best 

 intentions that honest Tom thus spoke, little 

 thinking that he had raised a passion of whose 

 existence its owner himself w^as totally ignorant. 

 Robert Gresham found in the various chances of 

 the money market an excitement which weaned 

 him frgm. his sorrow, and ere long engrossed his 

 whole being. Under its influence he became 

 another person. All lethargy was thrown aside, 

 and he seemed to have stepped into his natural 

 career, that of a bold and successful speculator. 

 His luck or his skill were enormous, and he soon 

 amassed great wealth, while his financial ability and 

 integrity became of European reputation. 



Paul's early days were too uneventful to need 

 narrating. At twelve years of age he went to 

 Eton, and there met George Marshall, who had 

 been commended to him by his father, by whom 

 Mr. Marshall was held in great esteem both as a 

 private friend and also as one of the most enter- 

 prising partners in the Hudson's Bay Company. 

 Though the two lads had often heard of each other, 



