A man may prove his courage in the counting-house as effectually as on the field of battle.
"These," I said to Turner, "are stirring times.

I suppose you are very anxious." I had passed before the Bourse in coming to the Avenue d'Antan, and had, as I spoke, a lively recollection of the white-faced and panic-stricken financiers assembled there.

For one franc that these men had at stake, it was probable that John Turner had a thousand.
"Yes--I am anxious," he said, quietly.

"These are stirring times, as you say; they stimulate the appetite wonderfully, and, I think, help the digestion." As he spoke a clerk came into the room without knocking--his eyes bright with excitement.

He gave John Turner a note, which that stout gentleman read at a glance, and rose from the breakfast table.
"Come with me," he said, "and you will see some history." We drove rapidly to the Bourse, through crowded streets, and there I witnessed a scene of the greatest excitement that it has been my lot to look upon; for it has pleased God to keep me from any battle-field.
Above a sea of hats a score of tricolour flags fluttered in the dusty air, and wild strains of the Marseillaise dominated the roar and babble of a thousand tongues wagging together.