It was not as he sat at the breakfast table that Ferdinand Lopez made up his mind to pocket the Duke's money and to say nothing about it to Mr Wharton.He had been careful to conceal the cheque, but he had done so with the feeling that the matter was one to be considered in his own mind before to took any step.As he left the house, already considering it, he was inclined to think the money must be surrendered.Mr Wharton had very generously paid his electioneering expenses, but had not done so simply with the view of making him a present of money.He wished the Duke had taken him at his word.In handing this cheque over to Mr Wharton, he would be forced to tell the story of his letter to the Duke, and was sure that Mr Wharton would not approve of his having written such a letter.How could anyone approve of his having applied for a sum of money which had already been paid to him? How could such a one as Mr Wharton,--an old-fashioned English gentleman,--approve of such an application being made under any circumstances? Mr Wharton would very probably insist on having the cheque sent back to the Duke,--which would be a sorry end to the triumph as at present achieved.And the more he thought of it the more he sure he was that it would be imprudent to mention to Mr Wharton his application to the Duke.The old men of the present day were, he said to himself, such fools that they understood nothing.And then the money was very convenient to him.He was intent on obtaining Sexty Parker's consent to a large speculation, and knew that he could not do so without a show of funds.By the time, therefore, that he had reached the city he had resolved that at any rate for the present he would use the money and say nothing about it to Mr Wharton.Was it not spoil got from the enemy by his own courage and cleverness? When he was writing his acknowledgement for the money to Warburton he had taught himself to look upon the sum extracted from the Duke as a matter quite distinct from the payment made to him by his father-in-law.
It was evident on that day to Sexty Parker that his partner was a man of great resources.Though things sometimes looked very bad, yet money always 'turned up'.Some of their buyings and sellings had answered pretty well.Some had been great failures.No great stroke had been made as yet, but then the great stroke was always being expected.Sexty's fears were greatly exaggerated by the feeling that the coffee and guano were not always real coffee and guano.His partner, indeed, was of the opinion that in such a trade as this they were following there was no need at all of real coffee or real guano, and explained his theory with considerable eloquence.'If I buy a ton of coffee and keep it six weeks, why do I buy it and keep it, and why does the seller sell it instead of keeping it? The seller sells it because he thinks he can do best by parting with it now at a certain price.I buy it because I think I can make money by keeping it.
It is just the same as though we were back to our opinions.He backs the fall.I back the rise.You needn't have coffee and you needn't have guano to do this.Indeed the possession of the coffee or guano is only a very clumsy addition to the trouble of your profession.I make it my study to watch the markets;--but I needn't buy everything I see in order to make money by my labour and intelligence.' Sexty Parker before his lunch always thought that his partner was wrong, but after that ceremony he almost daily became a convert to the great doctrine.Coffee and guano still had to be bought because the world was dull and would not learn the tricks of trade as taught by Ferdinand Lopez,--also possibly because somebody might want such articles,--but our enterprising hero looked for a time in which no such dull burden should be imposed on him.
On this day, when the Duke's 500 pounds was turned into the business, Sexty yielded in a large matter which his partner had been pressing upon him for the last week.They bought a cargo of Kauri gum, coming from New Zealand.Lopez had reasons for thinking that Kauri gum must have a great rise.There was an immense demand for amber, and Kauri gum might be used as a substitute, and in six months' time would be double its present value.This unfortunately was a real cargo.He could not find an individual so enterprising as to venture to deal in a cargo of Kauri gum after his fashion.But the next best thing was done.
The real cargo was bought, and his name and Sexty's name were on the bills given for the goods.On that day he returned home in high spirits for he did believe in his own intelligence and good fortune.
