When Batchgrew called him "a business man as
smart as they make 'em," and then proved that the money so invested
would be as safe as in a stocking, Louis agreed with a great air of
acumen that certainly it would. When Batchgrew pointed out that, under
the proposed new investment, Louis would be receiving in income thirty
or thirty-five shillings for every pound under the old investments,
Louis' eye glistened--positively glistened! Rachel trembled. She saw
her husband beggared, and there was nothing that frightened her more
than the prospect of Louis without a reserve of private income. She
did not argue the position--she simply knew that Louis without sure
resources behind him would be a very dangerous and uncertain Louis,
perhaps a tragic Louis. She frankly admitted this to herself. And old
Batchgrew went on talking and inveigling until Rachel was ready to
believe that the device of debentures had been originally invented by
Thomas Batchgrew himself with felonious intent.
An automobile hooted in the street.
"Well, ye'll think it over," said Thomas Batchgrew.
"Oh I _will_!" said Louis eagerly.
And Rachel asked herself, almost shaking--"Is it possible that he is
such a simpleton?"
"Only I must know by Tuesday," said Thomas Batchgrew.
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