Her husband looked at her queerly. His face was very pale and his hands were shaking. After a moment’s pause all he said was: “What a good thing it is that Bitterness had already entered the Shepherd’s service! They will have a roof over their heads, anyhow, and something to live on. The Shepherd appears to provide for his helpers generously when they are in need. It’s a pity Murmuring didn’t agree with her husband and give up the business when he did and so escape this complete loss.” Giving a harsh, strange laugh he added, “In the end fate and good fortune always seem to be on the side of the Shepherd’s followers, and bad luck with his enemies.”

His wife looked at him in astonishment. Never had she heard him speak in such a tone of voice or mention the Shepherd in that way. Before she could say anything, the maid entered the room carrying the morning paper which had just arrived, and with an odd, scared look on her face she laid it beside her master’s plate and left the room.

Pride unfolded the paper. Huge black headlines stretched right across the front page. Then Superiority saw her husband turn ashy white, the paper fell from his nerveless hands, and he slumped forward over the table. She uttered a little cry of terror, rang the bell for help, and hurried to her husband’s side. The paper had fallen to the floor but she caught sight of the headlines:

GREATEST FRAUD
OF THE CENTURY
Dead Valley Mines a Gigantic Hoax
Complete collapse of all banks in the City
of Destruction. All investments a dead loss.

As her terrified eyes read these words the self-assured heiress, who had felt herself inaccessible to the blows of fate, knew that ruin as complete as that which Murmuring had met during the night had overtaken them also. Only too well she knew that every penny which she and her husband and his parents possessed came from investments in this same “gigantic hoax.” Everything they possessed was gone from them like a burst bubble.

When Pride recovered consciousness he was in a fearful state of mental fear and distress. For weeks he had been dreading this calamity that had now overtaken them, hoping against hope that the rumors, of which Resentment had brought word, would prove untrue.