Ryder was well acquainted with Judge Rossmore’s private means.  The two men had met at a dinner, and although Ryder had tried to cultivate the acquaintance, he never received much encouragement.  Ryder’s son Jefferson, too, had met Miss Shirley Rossmore and been much attracted to her, but the father having more ambitious plans for his heir quickly discouraged all attentions in that direction.  He himself, however, continued to meet the judge casually, and one evening he contrived to broach the subject of profitable investments.  The judge admitted that by careful hoarding and much stinting he had managed to save a few thousand dollars which he was anxious to invest in something good.

Quick as the keen-eyed vulture swoops down on its prey the wily financier seized the opportunity thus presented.  And he took so much trouble in answering the judge’s inexperienced questions, and generally made himself so agreeable, that the judge found himself regretting that he and Ryder had, by force of circumstances, been opposed to each other in public life so long.  Ryder strongly recommended the purchase of Alaskan Mining stock, a new and booming enterprise which had lately become very active in the market.  Ryder said he had reasons to believe that the stock would soon advance, and now there was an opportunity to get it cheap.

A few days after he had made the investment the judge was surprised to receive certificates of stock for double the amount he had paid for.  At the same time he received a letter from the secretary of the company explaining that the additional stock was pool stock and not to be marketed at the present time.  It was in the nature of a bonus to which he was entitled as one of the early shareholders.  The letter was full of verbiage and technical details of which the judge understood nothing, but he thought it very liberal of the company, and putting the stock away in his safe soon forgot all about it.  Had he been a business man he would have scented peril.  He would have realized that he had now in his possession $50,000 worth of stock for which he had not paid a cent, and furthermore had deposited it when a reorganization came.

But the judge was sincerely grateful for Ryder’s apparently disinterested advice and wrote two letters to him, one in which he thanked him for the trouble he had taken, and another in which he asked him if he was sure the company was financially sound, as the investment he contemplated making represented all his savings.  He added in the second letter that he had received stock for double the amount of his investment, and that being a perfect child in business transactions he had been unable to account for the extra $50,000 worth until the secretary of the company had written him assuring him that everything was in order.  These letters Ryder kept.