APRIL 167 



it was 'bulled,' that is inllated, and hundreds more ruined or im- 

 poverished that he might sell out dear; how, also, the worthless 

 vendor's shares in the unpayable mine, obtained, perhaps, for 

 nothing, became the properly of the stockholders in Mr. Mag- 

 nate's companies at 4/. each. (Who can possibly have sold them ? 

 Not Mr. Magnate ; they were never even in his name.) He knows, 

 too, how Mr. Tradesman, shrewd, industrious person, reaped those 

 mighty millions out of the misery of the sweating (and sweated) 

 toilers with whom he ploughs his plenteous field, scourging them 

 to his half-paid tasks with the bitter lash of want ; or, mayhap, far- 

 seeing Merchant Prince, gathering up his honey by the simpler 

 expedients of sharp practice. Butter ! Margarine? — In fact there 

 is small difference — Foreign meat sold as British ? W' hy not ? 

 Really it is a better article. Table Delicacies ? Well, a mere trade 

 description implying no guarantee ; and, my dear sir, these are 

 just the little foresights and economies which, when at last the 

 books come to balance, make the difference Ijctween a simple 

 living, such as any old-fashioned, fossil-headed shopkeeper may 

 expect, and a fortune worth the winning. Also if the business is 

 to be floated as a company large profits must be shown or the 

 public won't apply. And so forth. 



The rest is easy. Shall that excellent champagne stay uncorked, 

 those glittering halls untrodden ? Why, don't you know every guest 

 will receive as a cloak-ticket a numbered pin or bracelet of that 

 raw red gold set in diamonds ? What do you say about, yes — red 

 as ' the blood of righteous Abel ' ? ' Murdered by his brother ! ' 

 Well, of course, sometimes people have to do funny things out in 

 those places. Who was Abel? His partner? — a Jew I suppose. I 

 dare say he wasn't righteous ; I dare say that he had treated him 

 badly. Oh ! you mean the old Bible story. How silly you are ; what 

 has that to do with Mr. Magnate and the way he got his money ? 

 Anj'how, it is no affair of mine, and I shall accept — there ! 



And so the Duchess goes, and the Lord Mayor goes, and every- 

 body goes, and are paid in bracelets or otherwise, and next morning 

 — is it not written in the book of all the papers ? Then comes the 



