It did a brokerage and private banking business, and while not one of the largest houses of its kind, it bore an enviable reputation for conservatism and fairness toward its customers.
The front door of the firm's office led into the corridor of the building, its street frontage consisting of a huge plate-glass window, above the half-drawn shade of which, one obtained an indistinct glimpse of wooden partitions and frosted panes.

Outwardly the office presented the same conservative appearance as its reputed business management, and even the clerks, most of them gray-haired and bent, worked with slow, labored movement, as if each scratch of the pen, each twist of the wrist, involved a separate thought of its own.
As Britz plunged through the door of the building, however, he became instantly aware of the changed aspect of Ward & Company's office.

The corridor was packed with an excited crowd of men and women, fear, anger, resentment written in their faces.

Massed before the door of the office, a score of men were reaching over one another's shoulders in an effort to break down the closed portal.

On the outskirts of the crowd, an excited citizen was haranguing those about him: "Prison for him--prison for the rich thieves!" his thin, piping voice rose above the dull murmur of the crowd.