And his thoughts continued to dwell on her, notwithstanding the hectic days which now passed like flashes of light in his new business venture.

For this stock exchange world in which he now found himself, primitive as it would seem to-day, was most fascinating to Cowperwood.

The room that he went to in Third Street, at Dock, where the brokers or their agents and clerks gathered one hundred and fifty strong, was nothing to speak of artistically--a square chamber sixty by sixty, reaching from the second floor to the roof of a four-story building; but it was striking to him.

The windows were high and narrow; a large-faced clock faced the west entrance of the room where you came in from the stairs; a collection of telegraph instruments, with their accompanying desks and chairs, occupied the northeast corner.

On the floor, in the early days of the exchange, were rows of chairs where the brokers sat while various lots of stocks were offered to them.