登陆注册
5170900000110

第110章

If the Pit thought Mr.Jadwin was beaten, I guess they found out how they were mistaken.For a time there, we were just _driving_ them.But then Mr.Gretry sent word to us in the Pit to sell, and we couldn't hold them.They came back at us like wolves; they beat the price down five cents, in as many minutes.We had to quit selling, and buy again.But then Mr.Jadwin went at them with a rush._Oh, it was grand!_ We steadied the price at a dollar and fifteen, stiffened it up to eighteen and a half, and then sent it up again, three cents at a time, till we'd hammered it back to a dollar and a quarter.""But Curtis himself," inquired Laura, "is he all right, is he well?""I only saw him once," answered Landry."He was in Mr.

Gretry's office.Yes, he looked all right.He's nervous, of course.But Mr.Gretry looks like the sick man.He looks all frazzled out.""I guess, we'd better be going," said Page, getting up from the table."Have you had your breakfast, Landry?

Won't you have some coffee?"

"Oh, I breakfasted hours ago," he answered."But you are right.We had better be moving.If you are going to get a seat in the gallery, you must be there half an hour ahead of time, to say the least.Shall I take any word to your husband from you, Mrs.Jadwin?""Tell him that I wish him good luck," she answered, "and--yes, ask him, if he remembers what day of the month this is--or no, don't ask him that.Say nothing about it.Just tell him I send him my very best love, and that I wish him all the success in the world."It was about nine o'clock, when Landry and Page reached the foot of La Salle Street.The morning was fine and cool.The sky over the Board of Trade sparkled with sunlight, and the air was full of fluttering wings of the multitude of pigeons that lived upon the leakage of grain around the Board of Trade building.

"Mr.Cressler used to feed them regularly," said Landry, as they paused on the street corner opposite the Board."Poor--poor Mr.Cressler--the funeral is to-morrow, you know."Page shut her eyes.

"Oh," she murmured, "think, _think_ of Laura finding him there like that.Oh, it would have killed me, it would have killed me.""Somehow," observed Landry, a puzzled expression in his eyes, "somehow, by George! she don't seem to mind very much.You'd have thought a shock like that would have made her sick.""Oh! Laura," cried Page."I don't know her any more these days, she is just like stone--just as though she were crowding down every emotion or any feeling she ever had.She seems to be holding herself in with all her strength--for something--and afraid to let go a finger, for fear she would give way altogether.When she told me about that morning at the Cresslers' house, her voice was just like ice; she said, 'Mr.Cressler has shot himself.I found him dead in his library.'

She never shed a tear, and she spoke, oh, in such a terrible monotone.Oh! _dear,_" cried Page, "I wish all this was over, and we could all get away from Chicago, and take Mr.Jadwin with us, and get him back to be as he used to be, always so light-hearted, and thoughtful and kindly.He used to be making jokes from morning till night.Oh, I loved him just as if he were my father."They crossed the street, and Landry, taking her by the arm, ushered her into the corridor on the ground floor of the Board.

"Now, keep close to me," he said, "and see if we can get through somewhere here."The stairs leading up to the main floor were already crowded with visitors, some standing in line close to the wall, others aimlessly wandering up and down, looking and listening, their heads in the air.One of these, a gentleman with a tall white hat, shook his head at Landry and Page, as they pressed by him.

"You can't get up there," he said, "even if they let you in.They're packed in like sardines already."But Landry reassured Page with a knowing nod of his head.

"I told the guide up in the gallery to reserve a seat for you.I guess we'll manage."But when they reached the staircase that connected the main floor with the visitors' gallery, it became a question as to whether or not they could even get to the seat.The crowd was packed solidly upon the stairs, between the wall and the balustrades.There were men in top hats, and women in silks; rough fellows of the poorer streets, and gaudily dressed queens of obscure neighborhoods, while mixed with these one saw the faded and shabby wrecks that perennially drifted about the Board of Trade, the failures who sat on the chairs of the customers' rooms day in and day out, reading old newspapers, smoking vile cigars.And there were young men of the type of clerks and bookkeepers, young men with drawn, worn faces, and hot, tired eyes, who pressed upward, silent, their lips compressed, listening intently to the indefinite echoing murmur that was filling the building.

For on this morning of the thirteenth of June, the Board of Trade, its halls, corridors, offices, and stairways were already thrilling with a vague and terrible sound.It was only a little after nine o'clock.The trading would not begin for another half hour, but, even now, the mutter of the whirlpool, the growl of the Pit was making itself felt.The eddies were gathering; the thousands of subsidiary torrents that fed the cloaca were moving.From all over the immediate neighborhood they came, from the offices of hundreds of commission houses, from brokers' offices, from banks, from the tall, grey buildings of La Salle Street, from the street itself.And even from greater distances they came; auxiliary currents set in from all the reach of the Great Northwest, from Minneapolis, Duluth, and Milwaukee.From the Southwest, St.Louis, Omaha, and Kansas City contributed to the volume.The Atlantic Seaboard, New York, and Boston and Philadelphia sent out their tributary streams; London, Liverpool, Paris, and Odessa merged their influences with the vast world-wide flowing that bore down upon Chicago, and that now began slowly, slowly to centre and circle about the Wheat Pit of the Board of Trade.

同类推荐
  • PENROD

    PENROD

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Letters of Two Brides

    Letters of Two Brides

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 静春堂集

    静春堂集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • A Bit O' Love

    A Bit O' Love

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 释迦谱

    释迦谱

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 穿越武侠梦

    穿越武侠梦

    风中独行,雨中漫步,白衣执剑,漫步诸天。
  • 我和你暖暖的爱恋

    我和你暖暖的爱恋

    江筝妈妈袁湛离开的时候拉着女儿的手,只留下一句话:“是妈妈的好孩子就坚强的活着,要微笑要快乐,不要去求你爸爸。”江筝记得母亲所说的每一个字,再难再苦哪怕在外婆家被人排挤,从来没有想去找过亲生的父亲江耀年。江筝九岁的时候,外婆看着江筝的脸,那眼神如同刀刮一般:“我要你发誓,你要是去找你爸爸,你就不得好死,出门被车轧死。”外婆的脸上决然。江筝十六岁的时候,外婆眼睛中的神色和煦,拉着江筝的手:“听外婆的话,给你爸爸打个电话……”为的却不是她江筝。舅妈的态度柔雅拉着江筝的手:“你跟你小妹同时上的大学,你说家里这个条件,筝筝不是舅妈不叫你念,而是家里没钱……”*有这样的一个人,出现在你的生活里,他就像是圣诞老人,满足你所有的愿望,但是你却从来没有遇见过他。每一次受伤,都有一个长腿叔叔出现在她的身边,但是他们却不相识……冬天总会过去,春天一定会来到。
  • 脱稿讲话的艺术:最佳口头表达能力速成秘诀

    脱稿讲话的艺术:最佳口头表达能力速成秘诀

    脱稿讲话的艺术就是口头表达帮助人生最重要的能量。这本《脱稿讲话的艺术——最佳口头表达能力速成秘诀》,仅用12堂课快速练就脱稿讲话的语言表达能力,让人圆满自己的人生,用好的口头表达能力塑造自己的美好生命,用好的口头表达能力打造自己价值连城的形象,用脱口秀妙语连珠描绘自己的锦绣前程,用好的演讲说话能力换来自己的财富,用行云流水的口头语言创造自己的成功。12堂课快速练就脱稿讲话的巨大能力,在实战中培养了很多人成为很好的口头表达者,凭此很多人的人生得到了自己想要的成就。
  • 武道逆天

    武道逆天

    羽化九州,群雄并立,武道昌隆,盛世宏图。在这个杀伐四起,群雄割据的天下。秉承着先祖的意志,肩负着家族的兴旺。他将以肉身为鼎,以双拳为刃,靠着其锋锐的心魄,豪迈的胸襟。突破这红尘的层层阻碍,以无上血脉逆天而上,冲破云霄之巅,站据在这世界的顶端。
  • 冷少东家的前台小姐

    冷少东家的前台小姐

    “不行了,好热,帮帮我!”她是他公司的前台小姐,是他的一夜情人,更是他的克星。他是她的仇人,为了给姐姐报仇,她不惜放弃原本可以拥有的好职位去做前台,更放弃深爱的男人去勾引他,大仇一天不报,她就一天不会离开。<他是她的护花使者,大学开始,他们已经相爱三年,可是毕业前夕她却说要分手,原因就是她要给姐姐报仇。=========================================飘雪亲以后加飘雪QQ就行了,但是不是铁杆的就不用加了,(1024139553)谢谢亲们的支持,欢迎亲们加入,多给飘雪提意见吧!《傲世总裁追妻记》已经完结,喜欢飘雪的亲们可以看一下,么么。。。http://m.wkkk.net/这是飘雪的圈子,希望大家可以踊跃的参加,和飘雪在里面交流。【============================================推荐好友‘书奴’的文《穿越之夫君情狂》‘静窗幽恋’的文《混混王妃傻王爷》‘烁梦’的文《邪女驯夫》‘胡研’的文《龙凤吟》‘慕容如湮’的文《懒医》‘东方青白’的文《狂情【诱】暴君》‘驿外雪殇’的文《贵为妖女》
  • 许你良辰,与我来生

    许你良辰,与我来生

    亲们,千千的实体书《许你良辰,与我来生》(原网络名:《也许曾经相爱过》)现已出版上市,恳请大家支持网络书的同时也大力支持实体书!当当网、卓越网、淘宝网及各地实体书店均有销售,谢谢大家了~~另外,喜欢千千文的亲也可以围观俺的围脖儿:【陌千千V5】http://m.wkkk.net/u/2136611381四年前,她在车祸中失去记忆,却在午夜梦回时闪出另一个人的临死片段四年后,她偶遇良氏总裁,被他身边的小孩唤作“妈妈”,从此陷入爱恨纠缠的漩涡她强硬不服软,他藏于暗处帮她她有车祸后遗症,他助她走出阴影她处于风口浪尖,他步步为营,逼她置身事外她知道了自己的身世他......也许世间总是存在着一种感情大家都知道,大家都认同,大家都惋惜可是,我们始终无法在一起总有无法愈合的伤口,总有无法占有的感情,也总有无法忘掉的事情良辰,我们不要哭泣听说爱情是命运,就算喝了孟婆汤,下一世,还能找到你。
  • 九璃江湖之鬼璃

    九璃江湖之鬼璃

    琉璃城来了一批士兵,他们来找九璃门,可我从小就不知道有什么九璃门。直到父亲临死前我了一颗珠子,叫我找到其他八颗珠子并保护他们
  • 放下烦恼,心暖花开

    放下烦恼,心暖花开

    在高速运转的信息化时代,人们面临各种竞争与压力,因无法得到有效的释放,各种烦恼由此产生,给我们的心理和生理造成极大的负担,严重影响我们的正常生活。本书是一本最暖心的心灵治愈书,以宽心为宗旨,告诉读者如何放下自我,如何处理好的得与舍的关系,如何降低欲望还原初心……只要正确掌握这些方法,烦恼就从我们身边消除,快乐、健康、阳光自然就会成为我们生活的主旋律。
  • 快穿100式

    快穿100式

    【正文已完结,番外进行中】初见,那人勾唇浅笑,“要抱抱,举高高。”后来再见,美人长睫微垂:“嫁我,不可食言哦。”再再再见,美人变病娇,眸光幽深挑眉轻笑:“除了我身边……你还想去哪里?”喻楚无法,只好求助主神:“大人,您的灵魂碎片总撩我,可我不想被撩,您说怎么办——嗯?对呀,我是真不想被撩啊。哎等等,您别生气,哎,您也别委屈啊……卧槽,别撒娇别撒娇,好好好,我让你撩,让你撩好了吧!”
  • 闻蝉寄贾岛

    闻蝉寄贾岛

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。