I want, however, to be perfectly just. You
are a very good business man indeed, careful and thorough. That you have
not a bold enough grasp of mind for the place you hold is due, perhaps, to
these dangerous ideas that have unsettled you. Your salary will be
continued for six months. Is that satisfactory?"
"No, sir. I could not be willing to accept it longer than to-day. And when
you say bold enough, why not be plain and say unscrupulous enough?" amended
the younger man.
"As you like. I don't juggle with words. The point is, you don't succeed.
This adventurer, Ridgway, scores continually against you. He has beaten you
clear down the line from start to finish. Is that not true?"
"Because he does not hesitate to stoop to anything, because--"
"Precisely. You have given the very reason why he must be fought in the
same spirit. Business ethics would be as futile against him as chivalry in
dealing with a jungle-tiger."
"You would then have had me stoop to any petty meanness to win, no matter
how contemptible?"
The New Yorker waved him aside with a patient, benignant gesture.
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