Louis Joseph Vance

“ Gallinger sat down, astonished at the abruptness of the query, but alive as to what brought it forth.
"Oh, about the same," he said. "Everyone in the Street knows to a moral certainty that Bynum pockets half the money his customers give him, but you can't fasten it on the fellow."
"Thank you," Reverdy muttered, glumly, He looked at his watch: ten o'clock. Bynum was due on the Exchange floor at that minute; Helen would be alone. Reverdy took a sudden resolution, without troubling to vouchsafe an explanation to Gallinger. ”

“ He could feel her trembling in the pressure of her fingers. "It—it was all a mistake, dear," she said at length. "I did not know, until you were gone, how much I lo——"
"Hush!" he cried, gravely. "Not now, not here, sweetheart," he pleaded. "Why, don't you know that all the world's on tiptoe, holding its breath to hear you say just that?" ”

“ THE biggest men in Wall Street—the newspapers' "Napoleons of finance"—are not necessarily in members of the New York Stock Exchange; many an operator whose influence on stock values has made itself felt from Maine to California, has never been nearer the floor of the Exchange than the gallery which hangs some thirty feet or so above that floor.
Young Reverdy—he was always "Young Reverdy" to the Street, even after his father's retirement—was not an Exchange member. Gallinger never could understand why ”

“ Gallinger's broad shoulders, however, were firm against the panels. "I wouldn't refuse" he put in. "If a customer demands the name of the broker of the other side of the transaction, you're bound to give it, you know. Now, who——?"
"Belden & Tausig."
"That's a lie" said Reverdy, shortly. "You haven't turned a share of Ontario on the floor in the last two weeks, and you know it, Bynum. You've pocketed Walcott's money, here, just as you are trying to pocket Miss Shackleford's. I can prove what I say by your clearing-house sheets, and you don't dare deny it. ”

“ Reverdy assured him pleasantly. "You draw two checks, one for fifty thousand and one for five hundred, respectively, to Miss Shackleford's and Walcott's orders, and you can do what you please with yourself—after we have had the checks certified, of course." ”

“ But so much happens in the year of a Stock Exchange broker that he may be pardoned for forgetting little things like the cause of a friend s absence. "Something about a girl?" Gallinger hazarded a vague guess. "I forget——"
For a moment he stood at the door, waiting. Apparently Young Reverdy had not noticed his arrival. The big man sat in his revolving chair, slewed around from his desk so that he faced the open window, on the sill of which his feet were resting. ”

“ Don't let him use my name or yours."
"But," expostulated Gallinger, "he'll have to be introduced in order to open an account."
"Not with Bynum & Shackleford, Gallinger. Did you hear me say 'five point margin?' With a firm that'll take a five-point margin, ready cash will prove the best introduction in the world. You understand? Send Wolcott there at once."
"Well, all right," Gallinger agreed dubiously. "But it seems to me you might tell a chap what you're driving at."
"I'm driving at Bynum," Reverdy announced grimly. "And I'm going to drive him out of the Street. Look here." ”

“ And he burst quite recklessly through the swinging doors of Bynum & Shackleford's customers room, full of his purpose and regardless of all else.
In a moment he caught a glimpse of her as she sat in the firm's private room, her ear to the telephone receiver. So far she had not become aware of his arrival. But now as he started toward the door, she looked up, saw him, and nodded with a little smile. Then, "Can I come in?" he asked.
"Why, certainly, Mr. Reverdy. What can I do tor you?" ”