The library was the most important room in the Ryder mansion, for it was there that the Colossus carried through his most important business deals, and its busiest hours were those which most men devote to rest.

But John Burkett Ryder never rested.

There could be no rest for any man who had a thousand millions of dollars to take care of.

Like Macbeth, he could sleep no more.

When the hum of business life had ceased down town and he returned home from the tall building in lower Broadway, then his real work began.