“Of course,” went on Reggie, “the first thing I thought of was the ten thousand in stocks that the governor had put in my hands to show what I could do. Here was the chance to make it twenty or thirty thousand or more, if Tabbs was right. And honest, Joe, that fellow could have convinced anybody. He was the most persuasive talker I ever met. Had facts and figures at his tongue’s end and reeled them off by the thousand. Showed me a chart of his own on which he had marked all the market fluctuations on leading stocks for ten years back. Had an answer for every objection. He was a perfect encyclopedia on everything that concerned stocks and bonds. If ever any man knew his business, it was Talham Tabbs.”