He secured some of my squared paper and, having cast about for a time,
decided to trace the rise and fall of certain lines and railways.
"There's something in this, George," he said, and I little dreamt that
among other things that were in it, was the whole of his spare money and
most of what my mother had left to him in trust for me.
"It's as plain as can be," he said. "See, here's one system of waves and
here's another! These are prices for Union Pacifics--extending over a
month. Now next week, mark my words, they'll be down one whole point.
We're getting near the steep part of the curve again. See? It's
absolutely scientific. It's verifiable. Well, and apply it! You buy in
the hollow and sell on the crest, and there you are!"
I was so convinced of the triviality of this amusement that to find at
last that he had taken it in the most disastrous earnest overwhelmed me.
He took me for a long walk to break it to me, over the hills towards
Yare and across the great gorse commons by Hazelbrow.
"There are ups and downs in life, George," he said--halfway across that
great open space, and paused against the sky.
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