“Now, look here,” said the wily proprietor, “you are putting me in a hard place.  Suppose the matter turns out badly; are you going to come to me, and charge me with leading you into it?”

“Not at all,” was responded, almost in unison.

“If you want to go into the Continental, I presume there is still some stock to be had.  If you wish me to act as your agent, I will serve you with a great deal of pleasure, but, mark you, I take no responsibility.  I will receive your money, and you shall have your certificates as soon as the mail will bring them; and, if I can get no stock of the Company, you shall have some of my own.”

They protested that they did not wish to put him to inconvenience, but quietly placed their money in his hands.  Every sum was carefully counted and recorded, and Mr. Belcher assured them that they should have their certificates within five days.

As they retired, he confidentially told them that they had better keep the matter from any but their particular friends.  If there was any man among those friends who would like “a chance in,” he might come to him, and he would do what he could for him.

Each of these men went off down the hill, full of dreams of sudden wealth, and, as each of them had three or four particular friends to whom Mr. Belcher’s closing message was given, that gentleman was thronged with visitors the next day, each one of whom he saw alone.  All of these, too, had particular friends, and within ten days Mr. Belcher had pocketed in his library the munificent sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.  After a reasonable period, each investor received a certificate of his stock through the mail.

It was astonishing to learn that there was so much money in the village.  It came in sums of one hundred up to five hundred dollars, from the most unexpected sources—­little hoards that covered the savings of many years.  It came from widows and orphans; it came from clergymen; it came from small tradesmen and farmers; it came from the best business men in the place and region.

The proprietor was in daily communication with his confederates and tools, and the investors were one day electrified by the information that the Continental had declared a monthly dividend of two per cent.  This was what was needed to unload Mr. Belcher of nearly all the stock he held, and, within one month of his arrival from the oil-fields, he had realized a sum sufficient to pay for his new purchase in the city, and the costly furniture with which he proposed to illuminate it.

Sevenoaks was happy.  The sun of prosperity had dawned upon the people, and the favored few who supposed that they were the only ones to whom the good fortune had come, were surprised to find themselves a great multitude.  The dividend was the talk of the town.  Those who had invested a portion of their small means invested more, and those whose good angel had spared them from the sacrifice yielded to the glittering temptation, and joined their lot with their rejoicing neighbors.  Mr. Belcher walked or drove among them, and rubbed his hands over their good fortune.  He knew very well that if he were going to reside longer among the people, his position would be a hard one; but he calculated that when the explosion should come, he should be beyond its reach.