66 6 'Sweet, thou hast trod on a heart: "Oh, I never meant that—indeed I did not mean to Lois says. There are tears upon her lashes, and her hand aches from the pressure he gives it as he goes; but beneath the pitiful tears the eyes unrelentingly say "no.") "Lois, are you here?" Harvey asks, bending over her as she sits, white and silent in the waning moonlight, her head against the pillar of the piazza. "Your shawl is slipped off. Let me there!" with a sweeping movement laying it about her. "Is Louise in there?" She pauses. Thanks," she says, rising. "Do not go yet," he says. She does not hesitate to listen to any chance thing he may have to say. It is nothing now to meet Harvey daily and talk to him as if he had been any other man. "Lois, do I offend you?" he says. She looks up in surprise. "Have I offended you since you came home?" "Not once," she answers, briefly. He locks both his hands in hers, and she stands there before him, looking down, cool, white, patient. "For Nelly says that I am driving you away," he says. He is quite reckless of making Lois angry with Nelly: Nelly must take the consequences; he will have the right to speak. "I have tried to behave properly in every way." "Nelly is mad. "You have!" she cries. "Nelly is mad. I am sure you have done and said nothing. If anything"- laughing a little "we are less than acquaintances. You never speak to me how could you have offended me? You do not look up when I come into the room; you pay no attention when I speak to any one else; you certainly have not obtruded yourself on my attention in any way." "You know why - you know my duty-" "I know that you are in every way a gentleman, Harvey." Silence. The trees move in the wind; the moonlight shadows waver on the grass. Lois trembles a little; she does not look up, because she feels the old magnetic gaze on her face, which in old days could thrill her to the finger-tips and hush her voice to silence. 'Lois," he says presently, "you are a beautiful, good woman. I hope you will be happy in your future." Over her face sweeps a momentary change - not the old soft flush; the difference is that between the warm moonlights and the cold, clear white radiance shining far and wide when the Northern Lights are in the winter sky. With an effort she looks full in his eyes. "I am happy," she says. "And you are very happy indeed? "Very happy," he repeats, and drops her hands. And they both know that they have looked into each other's eyes and told an enormous lie. INSIDE THE GOLD ROOM. ALTHOUGH the New York banks suspended specie payments on the 31st of December 1861, it was not until the 13th of January 1862 that gold was publicly dealt in at a premium. Then, moved by the necessity of the time, a knot of men formed on the sidewalk in William Street to trade in the precious metal, and all the transactions on that day were at a premium of three per cent. It was the opening of the New York gold market, for before this the traffic in coin had been confined to the counters of the bullion and note brokers, where the premium paid had gradually advanced since the suspension from one-eighth to three per cent., but as yet the commodity was only bought to satisfy the requirements of legitimate trade, and in small amounts gold and silver still mingled with notes in the circulation. The paper currency had, however, been rapidly pushing the coin currency out of use from the hour when the former ceased to be convertible into the latter, owing to the natural tendency of the people to hoard the more valuable of the two, namely that which had an intrinsic value equal to the amount it represented. This of course was but a repetition of the experience of other nations under similar circumstances; for when the paper money of any country becomes irredeemable, gold and silver are immediately eliminated from circulation. The dealers in gold soon took refuge from uncertain skies in a dingy basement opposite where they stood, and already occupied by a number of speculators and brokers in stocks, who, not belonging to the Stock Exchange, had recently gathered there to deal among themselves; and when the gold and the stock operators came together under the one roof, the result was a Babel of excited voices which arrested the attention of passers-by; and the Coal Hole - for so it was afterwards styled - became the centre of attraction in Wall Street. From this rather noisome spot the gold dealers, some months afterwards, removed for the sake of better accommodations to Gilpin's Newsroom, at the corner of William Street and Exchange Place, where all who applied were admitted on payment of twenty-five dollars per annum. For more than two years this place was the scene of wild excitement in the gold speculation; but, strangely enough, it was not until the 14th of October 1864 that any organisation for the government of the Gold Room came into existence. On that date the leading brokers and speculators at Gilpin's adopted the constitution and bylaws of the New York Gold Exchange, and elected officers to represent the association. The initiation-fee was fixed at a thousand dollars, and the annual dues at twenty-five dollars; and it was provided that any member who failed to comply with his contracts, or became insolvent, should be suspended until he had settled with his creditors. Fictitious sales were forbidden; and the hours of business were declared to be from 10 A. M. to 3.30 P. M., although transactions earlier and later were not forbidden. The rules required all sales to be settled for on the following day, unless where a different agreement was made, and all deliveries of gold to be made before 2.15 P. M., failing which, the buyers might postpone receiving it until the next day, without being charged interest. A penalty of one-quarter of one per cent. was imposed for such failure to deliver; and the party contracting with any defaulting party was empowered to employ one of the officers of the Board to purchase or sell, as the case might be, the gold involved in the broken contract, between half-past two and three o'clock on the same day, he accounting with the defaulting member for any surplus, or charging him with any loss there might be on the transaction. In all contracts on time extending over more than three days, one day's previous notice in writing was required before the gold could be delivered or demanded, such notice to be given before 2 P. M. ; and in all bargains either contracting party might require the other to make a deposit of not more than twenty per cent. with a Trust Company to guarantee the fulfilment of the contract, in which case he also would have to deposit an equal amount at the same time. A failure to comply with this demand left the party making it free either to cancel or continue the contract. These rules and regulations were substantially copied from the constitution and by-laws of the New York Stock Exchange, and were, therefore, in accord with Wall Street with regard to stocks as well as its previous dealings in gold. Several years later. the constitution and by-laws of both the Gold Exchange and the Stock Exchange were entirely re-written, but except in matters of detail they remain practically unaltered, and the manner of doing business is the same. The initiation-fee in the Gold Room for members admitted by election was nominally raised to ten thousand dollars, while the annual dues remained unchanged; but as members were allowed to sell or transfer their seats, and the admission-fee by transfer was fixed at five hundred dollars, it followed that no one who could buy a seat from a member for less than ten thousand dollars would pay the initiation-fee, and no one ever did, the price of seats having always ruled far below this amount, and occasionally as low as two hundred and fifty dollars. From Gilpin's Room, soon after the organisation of the New York Gold Exchange, the Gold Room was removed to premises at the northeast corner of Beaver and William Streets, previously occupied by an aggregation of "outside" brokers and speculators in stocks, constituting the "Public Board"— a body of men that subseqnently organised the "Open Board of Brokers," and whose first local habitation was the before-mentioned Coal Hole. The Gold Room remained at this corner until August 1865, when it migrated to the more commodious quarters in New Street, which it has since occupied. This room was approached by a narrow, dark, and partially enclosed passage or corridor, and short flights of wooden steps, from Broad Street, and by the same dismal passage and a few more steps from New Street, the apartment being the first floor of an ordinary basement building. It had been altered for the purpose for which it was to be used, and provided with a gallery for spectators, entrances for members and non-members, a platform and a raised bench or dais for the secretary and presiding officer, the duty of the latter being to arbitrate in disputed questions or submit such to a vote of the members present- the latter being decided by a show of hands - to make official announcements whenever necessary, to impose fines for every violation of the rules, and to preserve order, the first vice-president always, excepting in case of sickness or leave of absence, occupying this position. In the centre of the floor was placed a small grotto washed. by the falling waters of a miniature fountain, and in the pool or basin at its base were placed a few gold-fish, while the design of the fountain was a Cupid playing with a dolphin. A circular iron railing, painted green, surrounded the whole, and round. this the brokers gathered. Those standing nearest it and standing is invariably their attitude while dealing, both in the Gold Room and on the Stock Exchange- sometimes, when the market happened to be quiet, leaned over it to watch the appropriately selected fish disport in their native but too scanty element, or gazed meditatively at this pygmy artistic effort to transfer the picturesque to the den of bulls and bears, as if to inspire them with aesthetic tastes. But withal the appearance of the room was plain, and rather dingy and unattractive, while the approaches from both streets were decidedly squalid and forbidding, and the grimy deal-doors looked as if they led into a coal-cellar instead of the famous New York Gold Room. This description will apply to the place now as much as it did then, by which those who imagined it to be a scene of splendor will be very much undeceived, while, being signless, and modest in its exterior, there is nothing but the indicator to indicate it to a stranger. Unless otherwise expressed at the time of the transaction, all gold contracts are now settled through the Clearing House, originally and still officially known as the New York Gold Exchange Bank; and cash contracts made after noon, and special contracts not cleared in the bank, are, unless otherwise agreed upon, settled by certified checks on the Metropolitan Bank, or the Bank of New York, or by Treasury gold certificates. The party contracting to deliver gold through the Clearing House is required to send his order to that effect to the office of the party to receive it before a quarter-past twelve on the day the contract is due; although if the contract is to deliver direct, the delivery may be made at any time not more than two hours later. Originally, dealers, to facilitate their business with the Clearing House department of this bank, kept deposits with it, to be drawn against as often as necessity for the payment of differences arose; but after its temporary collapse consequent on gross mismanagement and the gigantic and scandalous operations involved in the Black Friday conspiracy, the deposit department was abolished, and the bank became and has since remained a mere clearing-house. Perhaps this part of the machinery of the Gold Bank ought to be described more minutely. I will, therefore, say that black and red advice-tickets are issued by the bank to dealers, who must, with certain exceptions, be members or associate members of the Gold Exchange, and these on the 1st of January 1873 numbered about four hundred and sixty-five. Buyers fill up their red tickets to receive gold, while sellers fill up their black tickets to deliver it-each dealer, however, being generally both a seller and a buyer on the same day. For every contract advice-tickets on the bank are exchanged by the contracting parties the dealer who contracts to deliver gold sending his tickets to the office of the buyer to be exchanged. Each dealer makes up his daily statement from the tickets he has exchanged, the latter accompanying the former when he sends it to the clearing bank, entering all his purchases and borrowed gold on the left side, and all his sales and lent gold on the right side of the statement, thus: PORCUPINE, QUILLS & Co. It is evident from the above that P. Q. & Co. would have to hand in their check for $58,082.50 to the Clearing House, with their statement duly balanced and signed, and after the clearings were made, would be entitled to receive from the latter $52,262.50 in gold coin, or its representative in a check on the Metropolitan Bank, where the Gold Bank keeps its account. By this it will be understood that all balances due the bank must be paid at the time the statements are handed in, before half-past twelve a failure to do which subjects the offender to a fine of twenty-five dollars those in currency by certified checks, and those in gold by certified checks, coin, or Treasury gold certificates; and all checks paid to the bank must be to the order of the before-mentioned Metropolitan Bank, and the credit of the New York Gold Exchange Bank. The latter in no case makes any payment of balances due to dealers until all those due to itself have been paid; and the rules provide that this payment may be begun at half-past one, or as soon as the necessary examination of statements is completed, and that in the event of a failure to make a general clearing by two o'clock, notice is to be posted to that effect in the Bank and the Gold Room, and all checks, currency, coin, gold certificates, statements, and orders belonging to dealers, are to be immediately returned to them when called for. Dealers who enter amounts due to or from them on their statements are held responsible for the same, and on notification must make good any amounts in default, for which purpose they are required to be present, personally or by attorney, at the bank at half-past one. In case the statement - with the balance due - of any dealer having gold to receive or |