The Mouse On Wall Street: eBook Edition (The Grand Fenwick Series 3) by Wibberley Leonard

Author:Wibberley, Leonard [Wibberley, Leonard]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: The Duchy of Grand Fenwick
Published: 2015-09-12T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER X

The six million dollars which Gloriana, acting on a decision made by a pin, had invested in Westwood Coal and Carriage readily purchased the majority of the shares of that company so that it was now owned, almost entirely, by the Duchy of Grand Fenwick. Nor was the full six million required to obtain control of the company for the Duchy, actually for the Duchess. Almost two and a half million dollars was left over, and Mr. Joseph Balche considered sending a cable to the Duchy asking for further instructions regarding the investment of this amount. On reflection he decided against this. There was no cable office in Grand Fenwick. That much he knew.

A cable to the Duchy would be transmitted to Paris, retransmitted probably to Marseilles, and then mailed to Grand Fenwick since there was no telephone system in the Duchy connecting the little nation with the outside world. Mountjoy had been able to obtain the installation of a telephone system about the castle and from the castle to the frontier guard, but there were no outside lines, for the reason that before the arrival of the Gum Money, the Duchy was not able to afford long-distance calls. Mr. Balche reflected that in these days of jet-propelled airplanes, an airmail letter went as fast almost as a cable and, in the case of the Duchy, would probably arrive earlier. Also the Duchess had herself sent her original instructions to buy by surface mail, indicating strongly that no great haste was required.

In his letter Mr. Balche stated that he had been able to acquire for the Duchy 71 percent of the shares of Westwood Coal and Carriage and that the Duchy could therefore dictate the future policy of the company and secure the election of a new board of directors. He warned that the company’s affairs were in the worst possible way and added that he had thought it proper to require a full audit of the company’s business and this would be sent to Her Grace at the earliest moment.

“Since the purchase of these shares for Your Grace they have fallen in value from two and an eighth to one and a quarter,” the letter continued. “I had hoped that when news of the purchase got about, it would bring about a rise in the market value of the shares, but the company’s financial record proved too formidable an obstacle to such a rally.

“Regarding the balance of close to two and a half million dollars, I would suggest that this be invested in County of Tokyo Bonds, which are safe and which carry a remarkable interest rate of 8 percent.”

Gloriana was a little annoyed when she got this letter. She didn’t expect to have any money left over. She wanted it all spent on the worthless shares and wrote to Mr. Balche instructing him to do this. “I don’t care how much you pay for the shares,” she wrote, “but you are to use up all the money buying them.

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