Read The Dust That Falls from Dreams for Free Online

by a certain L. Rust, and it was called
Adieu
. I wanted to give it to Rosie at Christmas, but if I had already gone, I would leave it for my mother to take round to her.

5
Hamilton McCosh Holds Forth in the Athenaeum
    I can’t tell you, old laddie, how completely dismaying this all is. First of all the bank rate went up. It was the 31st of July 1914. I’ll always remember that date. To tell the truth I was quite delighted initially. I’ve got tidy sums deposited here and there. It went from 4 per cent to 8 per cent, and then to 10 per cent, and just when I was rubbing my hands with glee, the blighters closed the Stock Exchange. I didn’t get invited to the conference with the Chancellor. If I had there would have been sparks flying, let me tell you. You couldn’t get credit anywhere.
    How was I supposed to earn a living? I have four charming daughters and a truculent wife. You’re a man of the world, old boy, you know how these things happen, and I’m sure you’re no different to me when it comes down to it, but I’ve got two mistresses current, and one retired, and they’ve each got a house and children to look after. The anxiety almost kills me. I got a note only last week – ‘Dear Ham, please send money, the children int got no shoes.’
    It was all very well, wasn’t it, sitting around and saying, ‘Well, what’s Serbia got to do with us?’ Now we know. It means less money supply, unemployment, unsaleable securities, a dearth of necessities. That’s what it’s got to do with us, damn it!
    What on earth are the Huns up to? What on earth was the point?
    Then there’s the moratorium on debts, you know, the Postponement of Payments Bill. God help us. A lot of people owe me a lot of money. When am I going to get it? I don’t owe anybody anything, so what use is it to me? How am I supposed to pay the tradesmen? Let’s hope it never gets implemented.
    Still, it was a bright day when the state insurance of merchant vessels came in. Did wonders for confidence. Actually it savedthe bacon of my future son-in-law’s father. What will he be then? A cousin-in-law? I never did understand how one is related to people. If I found out I was your second cousin three times removed, I wouldn’t have a clue what it meant. He’s in shipping, you know. The father. You might know him. The name’s Pendennis. Anyway, thank God for that. It made everything possible again. Have you seen any of the new ten-shilling and one-pound notes yet? I just hope it doesn’t undermine the currency. Coins inspire more confidence, don’t you think?
    The bank rate’s back down to 5 per cent again now, more’s the pity, but it shows what happens when the government promises to prop up the banks. I’m a businessman, it galls me, I must say, but the banks prop the rest of us up, so someone’s got to prop up the banks, eh?
    Have you heard what’s happened in Germany? The whole damned system’s collapsed. People are hoarding their small change. Runs on the savings banks. A hundred million lost overnight on the Berlin Exchange. Banks closing and refusing to hand over gold. Norddeutsche Handelsbank shut down. Can you imagine? Who would have thought it? Did you ever meet August Saal? No? A fine fellow, exceedingly clever. Went to his bank in Weimar and shot himself. What’s that? Eugen Bieber? Yes, I knew him quite well. Met him in Potsdam, something to do with railways in Patagonia. We were in talks about the stocks. What? Killed his wife? And himself? Potassium cyanide? Lost thirteen thousand in two days? Oh good Lord. I hadn’t heard about that.
    Just goes to show, doesn’t it? All you need is someone in charge who wants an empire and doesn’t understand money, and the whole damn country goes to Hell in a handcart. And you can’t make a mess in one country without messing up the rest. God save us from emperors, that’s what I say. Makes you feel grateful for Asquith, eh? Never thought I’d hear myself say that.
    Still…think