Not meaning to risk so much, they had been drawn into
it; but the game was worth the candle.
"Nine fifty-five," said Kirby. "Five minutes more!"
He strode over to the window and looked out. It was snowing, and the
March wind, blowing straight up Broadway from the bay, swept the white
flakes northward in long, feathery swirls. Mr. French preserved his
rigid attitude, though a close observer might have wondered whether it
was quite natural, or merely the result of a supreme effort of will.
Work had been practically suspended in the outer office. The clerks
were also watching the clock. Every one of them knew that the board of
directors of the bagging trust was in session, and that at ten o'clock
it was to report the result of its action on the proposition of French
and Company, Limited. The clerks were not especially cheerful; the
impending change meant for them, at best, a change of masters, and for
many of them, the loss of employment. The firm, for relinquishing its
business and good will, would receive liberal compensation; the
clerks, for their skill, experience, and prospects of advancement,
would receive their discharge. What else could be expected? The
principal reason for the trust's existence was economy of
administration; this was stated, most convincingly, in the prospectus.
There was no suggestion, in that model document, that competition
would be crushed, or that, monopoly once established, labour must
sweat and the public groan in order that a few captains, or
chevaliers, of industry, might double their dividends.
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