He did not even smile.
"He was extremely fortunate," he said. "I give you my word, Captain
Warren, that the majority of first speculators don't turn out that way.
I hope he was wise enough to keep his profits."
The captain rubbed his chin.
"Jim--" he began. "Excuse me, I should have said Mr. Pearson, but I've
got sort of in the habit of callin' folks by their first names. Livin'
where you know everybody so well gets you into those habits."
"Jim suits me. I hope you'll cultivate the habit."
"Do you? Well, I will. Now, Jim, referrin' to what I was goin' to say,
you, bein' a newspaper man, ought to know everything, but it's pretty
plain you don't know Elkanah Chase. Keep his profits! Why, when a feller
is all but convinced that he knows it all, one little bit of evidence
like that speculation settles it for him conclusive. Elkanah, realizin'
that Wall Street was his apple pie, opened his mouth to swaller it at
one gulp. He put his profits and every other cent he had into another
sure thing tip."
"And won again?"
"No. He lost all that and some more that he borrowed."
"But I thought you said it was the making of him!"
"It was. He had to take a job over at the overalls factory in Ostable.
As a fifteen thousand dollar gentleman, he was pretty average of a mess,
but they tell me he makes middlin' good overalls.
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