Orde looked
up at him with a sudden admiration.
"You're the brains of this concern," said he.
"We'll get on," replied Newmark, the fire dying from his eyes.
XXIX
In the course of the next eight years Newmark and Orde floated high
on that flood of apparent prosperity that attends a business well
conceived and passably well managed. The Boom and Driving Company
made money, of course, for with the margin of fifty per cent or
thereabouts necessitated by the temporary value of the improvements,
good years could hardly fail to bring good returns. This, it will
be remembered, was a stock company. With the profits from that
business the two men embarked on a separate copartnership. They
made money at this, too, but the burden of debt necessitated by new
ventures, constantly weighted by the heavy interest demanded at that
time, kept affairs on the ragged edge.
In addition, both Orde and Newmark were more inclined to extension
of interests than to "playing safe." The assets gained in one
venture were promptly pledged to another. The ramifications of
debt, property, mortgages, and expectations overlapped each other in
a cobweb of interests.
Orde lived at ease in a new house of some size surrounded by
grounds.
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