care to turn the money to good account.  On
the other hand, Mr. Velardi drew largely upon
the Smyrna house, remitting to me the proceeds
of the bills, which I placed to our credit in one
of the local banks.  At one time we had in
Smyrna a balance of nearly five thousand pounds,
and a still larger sum with our London banker.
It is true that all this money rested upon no surer
foundation than the paper our bills were written
upon.  Still, the world at large did not know
this, and day by day our reputation as a wealthy
firm increased.  I, who had not brought a
shilling into the house, was believed to have had
a fortune of twenty thousand pounds upon which
I had commenced business with Mr. Velardi.
It was useless for me to deny the story; the very
fact of my doing so only made it the more believed.
Mr. Velardi was well known in Smyrna,
and every one in the place was aware that
he had commenced life with very little capital.
"I wonder," said one gentleman to me, "how
it is that a rich man like you came to enter
into partnership with so poor a man as
Velardi; however, you have no doubt been the
making of the house, which now enjoys as good
credit as any firm in Smyrna."  Little did the
speaker think that it was Mr. Velardi who had
been the making of me!

Mr. Velardi was far too cautious a man to
trust messages of importance to the telegraph—
that is, to the telegraph in the Levant —where
what is intended to be the most private becomes
generally the most public.  Before I left London
he handed me a cypher, which was to be used
between us upon all business matters of any
importance.  Accordingly, I one day received
from him a telegram to the following effect:

"FIGS 109 SHIP 10,000 BOXES SMYRNA TO
LONDON, 5000 ODESSA."

Almost before I had read this telegram it was
reported all over Smyrna that figs had risen
greatly in price in London, and that the house
of Velardi had received a telegram to ship ten
thousand boxes of the fruit to London.  This
report served our purpose in two ways.  In the
first place, it concealed the real meaning of the
message; in the second, it served to raise the
price of figs, of which we had lately bought
a large stock, and which we were now able to
sell at a considerable profit.  To me, who read
the telegram according to the cypher I had by
me, the message ran thus:

"Draw bills on London, at exchange of 109
piastres to the pound, to the amount of I0,000l.,
and remit half here and half to Odessa."

These directions I followed out to the letter,
and by the next steamer both amounts were
duly remitted to the respective firms.  A few days
later, the post brought me Mr. Velardi's letter, in
which his reasons for directing me to draw these
bills were explained in substance as follows:

A company had been formed to run steamers
between London and various ports on the Black
Sea.  As the agency of this company would be
both useful and profitable to our firm, and as
Mr. Velardi wished very much to obtain it, when
he applied for it he gave, as references of
the respectability of our house, our London
banker, as well as the banker in Odessa with
whom we did business.  To have a good answer
given by any banker to whom you refer, it is
necessary to have a good balance in his hands;
for this reason my partner wished that in each
of his banker's hands there should be at least
five thousand pounds.  In Smyrna such a
reference was not necessary, for, owing to my
supposed wealth, every one who was asked
would have said —and did say —that no firm in
the place enjoyed better credit, and that our
capital was supposed to be very large.  In due
time the references were sent, favourable replies
were given, and the agency of the steamers was
obtained for our firm: a matter which proved of
no small importance to us.

At the end of six months' sojourn in Smyrna
I returned to London, and found that we could
for the past half year divide a net profit of two
thousand one hundred pounds, my share of
which amounted to seven hundred pounds.  This
was not a small amount for one who, a year before,
had entered into business without a farthing.

My partner, however —although still working
as before, and with even more, if possible, than
his old energy —had begun to turn his thoughts
into new channels of profit.  It was just then
that the mania for joint-stock companies was at
its height.  Commercial men were all more or
less speculating in shares, and anxious to be on
the direction of some one or other "good thing."
As all the financial arrangements of our firm
were entirely under the direction of my partner,
I could not object to any employment of our
money which was approved of by Mr. Velardi.
Moreover, like almost every other commercial
man in England, I began at this time to be
infatuated with the idea that there was a royal
road to fortune, and that money could be made
much faster by dabbling in shares, than by
ordinary legitimate trade.

We at once went at the Stock Exchange
work with a will.  There was not a company's
prospectus published in the Times which we
did not read with avidity, and in which we
did not apply for double the number of shares
that we could possibly hope to obtain.  When
they rose to a premium, we sold them, and
applied for others in fresh concerns.  We made
money fast, and each of us got named to be
directors upon boards of good companies.  Very
soon, our names got to be well known in the
City, and we were in great request as directors
in new companies.  Our speculations were all
on joint account, and, for the third half year that
we were partners, we divided three thousand
pounds between us, of which one-third was,
according to agreement, my share.  Moreover,
being at heart a very liberal man, Mr. Velardi
wrote off five hundred pounds as an extra bonus
to me, for the trouble and expense I had been
at, and the good I had done the firm during
my residence at Smyrna.

But we soon began to find that in business,
as in everything else, no man can serve two
masters.  The complicated exchanges which we