During all this conversation, Frank had been listening with a horrified fascination. Not that a bit of corruption had ever worried him—that was part of city life. But to hear these two men, with whom he was doing business, describe the whole vast machine of fraud and corruption so lovingly, and with such familiarity, was making him nervous. This deal seemed legitimate, but was there something about it he didn’t know? If Jay Gould would cheerfully use the President of the United States as his stooge, he thought, then is Gabriel Love making a fool of me? And the words of his son Tom came back to him with a terrible urgency: “Stay away from Gabriel Love.”

The clammy feeling on his brow returned.

“Are you absolutely sure this business is legal?” he suddenly blurted out.

“It’s fine,” said Sean with a smile. “Trust me.”

But Gabriel Love wasn’t smiling. He was giving him a very strange look, one that Master didn’t like at all.

“You’re not going to let me down, are you?” he asked.

“No,” said Frank, unwillingly.

“Don’t ever let me down,” said old Gabriel Love.

“He won’t let you down,” said Sean, quickly.

Gabriel gave Sean a look. Then his face broke into a smile.

The brandied pears arrived.

The next morning, Frank Master ate his breakfast quickly. Then he went into the yard behind the house. The weather was still surprisingly warm, well into the fifties. An article in the newspaper had mentioned a storm afflicting the Midwest, but the forecast for the weekend was warm weather, turning cloudy with a few showers. At present the sky was blue. The little clumps of crocuses in the garden had all opened out days ago into a pleasing array of mauve and white and yellow.

After pacing about in the garden for a little while, Frank decided to go down to Wall Street.

This time, he took a cab—a mistake, as it happened. For as they reached the Lower East Side, they encountered a great fleet of laden wagons entering the city. The Barnum, Bailey and Hutchinson circus was arriving in town. He should have remembered. He must make sure he and Hetty took the grandchildren before it left. But the circus was blocking the streets, and it was some time before the cab could get through.

Saturday mornings were usually quiet on Wall Street. But the market didn’t close until the middle of the day, and there were plenty of people about. Master walked into the Stock Exchange. A quick look at the floor told him that shares were trading moderately. He went up to a broker.

“Anything happening?” he inquired.

“Not much. Some Hudson Ohio stock was just bought. Nothing dramatic though.”

“It’s a good stock,” said Master with a shrug.

So Gabriel Love had made his trades. The trap was set. Master waited about for a while. The market seemed ready to end the week without excitement.