On a certain Saturday when the books were made up, I found that after discharging all liabilities, I should not be worth more than L20,000.

On the following Saturday but two when the books were made up, I was worth L153,000! L'appetit vient en mangeant.
It seemed nothing to me when so many were worth millions.
For the next year I worked as few have done, and when I struck a balance at the end of it, I found that on the most conservative estimate I was the owner of a million and a half in hard cash, or its equivalent.

I was so tired out that I remember this discovery did not excite me at all.

I felt utterly weary of all wealth-hunting and of the City and its ways.
Moreover my old fastidiousness and lack of perseverance re-asserted themselves.

I reflected, rather late in the day perhaps, on the ruin that this speculation was bringing to thousands, of which some lamentable instances had recently come to my notice, and once more considered whether it were a suitable career for an upright man.