The most inward of men, Meriwether had become a public figure identified with the arrogance, greed, and speculative folly of Wall Street taken to staggering excess. He and his devoted arbitrageurs were the authors of a historic collapse, one that had threatened the entire system. Camera crews descended on Greenwich, and television helicopters buzzed the firm’s formerly tranquil offices. Meriwether was at least spared the suggestion of personal dishonor, but otherwise late September was for him the worst kind of nightmare. He retained his uncanny calm, though one wondered if it masked a certain
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