# A Tempered Wind explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by O. Henry.

## What happens

Jeff Peters recounts his partnership with Buckingham Skinner, a con artist who poses as a rustic farmer to secure small loans from loan companies. They later form the Golconda Gold Bond and Investment Company, a fraudulent scheme that attracts investments from poor and vulnerable people. When a newspaper reporter exposes the scam, Buck and Jeff decide to return all the money to the investors, refusing to swindle the needy. They then flee, resuming their small-time hustles with a hair tonic and chill cure scheme.

## Themes in this chapter

### Deception and Appearance vs. Reality

Buckingham Skinner's farmer disguise and the Golconda Company's false promises highlight the theme of deception.

### Crime and Consequence

The fraudulent scheme and its exposure, followed by the decision to return the money, explore the moral consequences of crime.

### Social Class and Wealth

The investors are poor workers, old women, and children, contrasting with the con artists' initial greed and eventual redemption.

## Character check-ins

### Jeff Peters

Narrator and partner in the Golconda scheme; decides with Buck to return investors' money.

### Buckingham Skinner

Con artist who poses as a farmer to get loans; later co-founds the Golconda Company and insists on returning the money.

## Key lines

> The first time my optical nerves was disturbed by the sight of Buckingham Skinner was in Kansas City.

I first saw Buckingham Skinner in Kansas City.

_Jeff Peters introduces his first encounter with Skinner._

> I involve myself, as you perceive, in the loathsome apparel of the rural dub. Thus embalmed I am Jonas Stubblefield—a name impossible to improve upon.

I dress as a country bumpkin and call myself Jonas Stubblefield.

_Skinner explains his disguise for the loan scam._

> Me and Buck judged they'd been reading the papers, too. We stopped and looked at our stockholders, some surprised. It wasn't quite the kind of a gang we supposed had been investing.

Buck and I realized the investors had read the exposé and were not the wealthy types we expected.

_The crowd of poor investors surprises the con artists._

> We never allowed to swindle sick old women and working girls and take nickels off of kids.

We never cheated vulnerable people like the sick, working girls, or children.

_Buck justifies returning the money by stating their ethical boundaries._

> Plenty of the 'Shake-the-Shakes Chill Cure' labels... What's hair, anyway, if you have to shake it off?

We have plenty of chill cure labels, so hair tonic can be relabeled as chill cure.

_After the Golconda collapse, Jeff and Buck repurpose labels for a new scam._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_41_se/chapters/a-tempered-wind
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_41_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_41_se/chapters