42 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

some reason or other, the fact of Khaireddin Pasha having been the owner of the shares in question had been overlooked or forgotten — a fact not so surprising as it may seem at first sight, considering that in 1858 the shares of the Company were hardly deemed worth the paper on which they were inscribed — while, owing probably to his sudden death, there was no inventory of his property found amidst his papers. At some period, however, subsequent to his death, it was discovered that in the concession which Said Pasha granted to M. de Lesseps for the construction of the Canal, Khaireddin was expressly named as one of the original promoters of the enterprise, and in this capacity was entitled to one whole founder's share and 250 ordinary shares, securities which at their present market price represent a very large sum of money. The plaintiffs therefore called upon the Company to hand over to them th? shares belonging by rights to Khaireddin, or in the event of their not being in a position to do so, to pay the amount the shares would represent to-day in the open market. The Company could not contest the fact that Khaireddin was specially mentioned in the original list of founders drawn up in 1855, and that he took part in various meetings of the founders in the early days of the concession. The defendants, however, proved, through their counsel, that Khaireddin's name did not appear in a second list of founders drawn up in 1861, and as far as can be gathered from the report of the trial, they contended that the absence of his name