“My boy,” said the president, “you have been doing very well.  I have noticed the excellence of your work.  I want to commend you.”

“Thank you, sir,” said John modestly, expecting to hear that his salary was to be raised.

“Yes,” continued the great man.  “And I want you to have an interest in the business.”

The blood rushed to John’s head and face.  “Thank you very much,” he gasped.

“I have allotted you five shares in the trust company,” said the president.  “If you take them up and carry them you will feel that you have a real connection with the house and it will net you a handsome return.  Have you any money?”

It so happened that at this time John’s savings were invested in a few bonds of an old and conservatively managed railroad.  His heart fell.  He didn’t want to buy any bank stock.

“No,” he answered.  “My salary is small enough and I need it all.  I don’t save any money.”

“Oh, well,” said the magnate, “I will try and fix it up for you.  I will arrange for a loan with the ——­ Bank on the stock.  Remember, I’m doing this to help you.  That is all.  You may go back to your books.”

Next day John was informed that he had bought five shares of ——­ Trust Company stock in the neighborhood of three hundred, and he signed a note for one thousand four hundred and twenty-five dollars, and indorsed the stock over to the bank from which the money had been borrowed for him.  The stock almost immediately dropped over fifty points.  John paid the interest on the note out of his salary, and the dividends, as fast as they were declared, went to extinguish the body of the loan.  Some time afterward he learned that he had bought the stock from the magnate himself.  He never received any benefit from it, for the stock was sold to cover the note, and John was obliged to make up the difference.  He also discovered that ten or fifteen other employees had been given a similar opportunity by their generous employer at about the same time.  John, in prison, says it was a scheme to keep fifty or a hundred shares where it could easily be controlled by the president, without risk to himself, in case of need.  Of course, he may be wrong.  At any rate, he feels bitterly now toward the big men who are at large while he is in jail.

John continued to keep up with the acquaintances formed during his years in the broker’s office, many of whom had started little businesses of their own and had done well.  Part of their stock-in-trade was to appear prosperous and they took John out to lunch, and told him what a fine fellow he was, and gave him sure tips.  But John had grown “wise.”  He had had all the chances of that sort he wanted, and from a bigger man than any of them.  He ate their lunches and invited them in return.  Then he economized for a day or two to even up.  He was not prosperous himself, but he did not accept favors without repaying them.