It remained for Jack Dorlin, when months afterward he turned a reminiscent and contemplative eye upon the episode, to discover the curious perversity of it all. John’s first opportunity to get control of the bank had arisen in the excessive precaution his father had taken to prevent it, and now the same timorous conservatism of his trustees, on which the old man had counted so much, was turned to panic, and the move deliberately calculated by Sponley to ruin John served only to make the temporary control permanent. John heard from the clearing house and from Pickering almost simultaneously. The news from the former was no worse than the Banker had expected, and from the latter much better; for the closing bell had rung, and Pickering was safe till to-morrow morning. But the tide of battle was turned already. With the arrival of Cartwright and Meredith at the bank, and John’s quick guess at their errand, his confidence had come back. The morning with its confession of defeat was forgotten. He was no longer angry; his mind was occupied by a confident determination to win. He left the telephone after receiving Pickering’s message and approached a little group of his officers, who were discussing the situation, and who apparently entertained serious misgiving as to what the outcome would be. “I don’t think you need to feel alarmed about it,” he said. “We’re coming out all right. We’ll have that run broken now in short notice.” “We don’t seem to be making much headway,” said Jackson. “That line’s longer than ever and more scared. The people down there by the corner think they aren’t going to get this money.” “Thank God it’s getting somewhere near three o’clock,” said Peters. “We ought to be able to last out to-day, it seems to me,” hazarded Curtin. “Yes, it’s to-morrow that scares me,” Peters answered. “We shan’t close at three,” said John Bagsbury. “We’re going to keep open till every depositor who’s waiting out there in line gets his money. We’ll keep it up as long as they do, if that’s till midnight.” “I don’t see how we can do that, Mr. Bagsbury,” Jackson remonstrated. “I should think we ought to stop for breath when we have the chance.” “I don’t want another day like this. We’ll be able to pay every man who wants his money before we close to-night, and we’re going to do it. I think you’d better put out a notice to that effect, Mr. Peters. I’m going out to lunch. I’ll be at that little place on the corner, so that if you want me, you can get at me. Please put that notice in a conspicuous place, Mr. Peters.” John was hardly out of the bank before Curtin had called up Sponley and begun an account of the way matters had been going since noon; but the Bear cut short his narrative.