Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/214

 house, giving it an animated and lively look which it had not worn when all the shades were down.

Shortly after the night-watch of newspaper men had gone away young Mrs. Gould appeared and drove away, in her carriage for a brief stay. She said that her father-in-law was much the same as he had been and perfectly conscious. An early caller was General Manager Hain, of the "L" road system. He stayed but a moment, and when he resumed his trip down town he little realized that the message of death, which was to be followed by the draping of all the "L" road engines, would reach the office almost as soon as he.

The December sun came up and gilded the roof of the extension in which the multi-millionaire lay gasping out the remnant of his life. It caught in the glass of the conservatory and sent baffling lights into the eyes of passers gazing curiously up at the windows which shrouded the drama of life and death within. Audacious, it trickled in between the shutters until a hand closed them tight, and it saw, what few have seen, the great magician of Wall street bent low by a power greater than his own.

Just then, as if moved by some sympathetic force, all of the raised shades were lowered and the great house assumed a somber aspect. This was just after nine o'clock in the morning. A few moments later a messenger boy came out of the house bearing a telephone message from Dr. Munn to his wife, stating that Mr. Gould had died at a quarter past nine o'clock. And thus the news that a king was dead