He floundered in his misery, sobbed about it like a child.

The hand of misfortune had stripped him naked, and one man, at least, saw him as he really was.
"I can't stand it, Laverick,--I couldn't face them all.

It's too cruel--too horrible! Eighteen thousand pounds gone in one week, forty thousand in a month! Forty thousand pounds! Oh, my God!" He writhed in agony.

The man on the other side of the table said nothing.
"If we could only have held on a little longer! 'Unions' must turn! They will turn! Laverick, have you tried all your friends?
Think! Have you tried them all?
Twenty thousand pounds would see us through it.

We should get our own money back--I am sure of it.