When he had left the office of Tighe & Co., seven years before, it was with the idea that henceforth and forever he would have nothing to do with the stock-brokerage proposition; but now behold him back in it again, with more vim than he had ever displayed, for now he was working for himself, the firm of Cowperwood & Co., and he was eager to satisfy the world of new and powerful individuals who by degrees were drifting to him.

All had a little money.

All had tips, and they wanted him to carry certain lines of stock on margin for them, because he was known to other political men, and because he was safe.
And this was true.

He was not, or at least up to this time had not been, a speculator or a gambler on his own account.

In fact he often soothed himself with the thought that in all these years he had never gambled for himself, but had always acted strictly for others instead.