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Rh squared paper and, having cast about for a time, decided to trace the rise and fall of certain mines and railways. "There's something in this, George," he said, and I little dreamt that among other things that were in it, was the whole of his spare money and most of what my mother had left to him in trust for me.

"It's as plain as can be," he said. "See, here's one system of waves and here's another! These are prices for Union Pacifics—extending over a month. Now next week, mark my words, they'll be down one whole point. We're getting near the steep part of the curve again. See? It's absolutely scientific. It's verifiable. Well, and apply it! You buy in the hollow and sell on the crest, and—there you are!"

I was so convinced of the triviality of this amusement that to find at last that he had taken it in the most disastrous earnest overwhelmed me.

He took me for a long walk to break it to me, over the hills towards Yare and across the great gorse commons by Hazelbrow.

"There are ups and downs in life, George," he said—halfway across that great open space, and paused against the sky. "I left out one factor in the Union Pacific analysis."

"Did you?" I said, struck by the sudden change in his voice. "But you don't mean?"

I stopped and turned on him in the narrow sandy rut of pathway, and he stopped likewise.

"I do, George. I do mean. It's bust me! I'm a bankrupt here and now."

"Then?"

"The shop's bust too. I shall have to get out of that."

"And me?"