there was no traffic, even for the local trains that did stop, which was true enough."
"Seems to me, what old Sanderson needed was a town at the end of his line."
"Exactly. He expected other people to build the town on land which he leased to them, but, you see, he found himself involved in a vicious circle. He could not guarantee railway facilities such as other sea-side places possessed, therefore the public would not lease and build, and until the public leased and builded, he could not secure better train service."
"Rather a hopeless position, it seems to me."
"Yes, it was."
"Hadn't he money enough to build the town himself?"
"No; you see, Sir Phillip Sanderson is a very optimistic man. He applied to the Stock Exchange for a quotation, and the shares have been more or less salable since the construction of the line, quoted sometimes as high as forty-nine."
"How could the shares reach such a figure if there was no traffic, and no dividends."
"As a matter of fact, that came through the old man's chivalrous pride in his hobby. The whole management was in his hands, and each half-year he declared a dividend, and paid it out of his own pocket, always hoping for amendment in the situation, and likewise anxious, being an honest man, that friends and neighbours who had invested on
