“Oh, I am not worrying, exactly; only, I do wish I hadn’t bought—I mean, the money was so safe in the Trolleyman’s Trust Company, that I can’t help thinking I might just as well have let it stay where it was, even if it didn’t bring me in so much. But, of course, if you want me to leave it here,” she said, very slowly to give him every opportunity to contradict her, “of course, I’ll do just as you say.” “My dear Mrs. Hunt,” Colwell said, very politely, “my only desire is to please you and to help you. When you buy bonds you must be prepared to be patient. It may take months before you will be able to sell yours at a profit, and I don’t know how low the price will go in the meantime. Nobody can tell you that, because nobody knows. But it need make no difference to you whether the bonds go to 90, or even to 85, which is unlikely.” “Why, how can you say so, Mr. Colwell? If the bonds go to 90, I’ll lose $6,000–-my friend said it was one thousand for every number down. And at 85 that would be”—counting on her fingers—“eleven numbers, that is, _eleven—thousand—dollars_!” And she gazed at him, awe-strickenly, reproachfully. “How _can_ you say it would make no difference, Mr. Colwell?” Mr. Colwell fiercely hated the unnamed “friend,” who had told her so little and yet so much. But he said to her, mildly: “I thought that I had explained all that to you. It might hurt a weak speculator if the bonds declined ten points, though such a decline is utterly improbable. But it won’t affect you in the slightest, since, having an ample margin, you would not be forced to sell. You would simply hold on until the price rose again. Let me illustrate. Supposing your house cost $10,000, and——” “Harry paid $32,000,” she said, correctingly. On second thought she smiled, in order to let him see that she knew her interpolation was irrelevant. But he might as well know the actual cost. “Very well,” he said, good-humoredly, “we’ll say $32,000, which was also the price of every other house in that block. And suppose that, owing to some accident, or for any reason whatever, nobody could be found to pay more than $25,000 for one of the houses, and three or four of your neighbors sold theirs at that price. But you wouldn’t, because you knew that in the fall, when everybody came back to town, you would find plenty of people who’d give you $50,000 for your house; you wouldn’t sell it for $25,000, and you wouldn’t worry. Would you, now?” he finished, cheerfully. “No,” she said slowly. “I wouldn’t worry. But,” hesitatingly, for, after all, she felt the awkwardness of her position, “I wish I had the money instead of the bonds.” And she added, self-defensively: “I haven’t slept a wink for three nights thinking about this.” The thought of his coming emancipation cheered Mr. Colwell immensely. “Your wish shall be gratified, Mrs. Hunt. Why didn’t you ask me before, if you felt that way?” he said, in mild reproach. And he summoned a clerk.