I am afraid I cannot allow him to be taken seriously."
Lewis yawned and reached out his hand for the cigars. "In any case it
is merely a question of speculative interest. We shall not fall just
yet, though you think so badly of us."
"You will not fall just yet," said Marker slowly, "but that is not your
fault. You British have sold your souls for something less than the
conventional mess of pottage. You are ruled in the first place by
money-bags, and the faddists whom they support to blind your eyes. If I
were a young man in your country with my future to make, do you know
what I would do? I would slave in the Stock Exchange. I would spend my
days and nights in the pursuit of fortune, and, by heaven, I would get
it. Then I would rule the market and break, crush, quietly and
ruthlessly, the whole gang of Jew speculators and vulgarians who would
corrupt a great country. Money is power with you, and I should attain
it, and use it to crush the leeches who suck our blood."
"Good man," said George, laughing. "That's my way of thinking. Never
heard it better put."
"I have felt the same," said Lewis. "When I read of 'rings' and
'corners' and 'trusts' and the misery and vulgarity of it all, I have
often wished to have a try myself, and see whether average brains and
clean blood could not beat these fellows on their own ground."
"Then why did you not?" asked Marker.
Pages:
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264