"Certainly I have!" snapped his partner, who had given not a thought to the matter until that moment. "D'you suppose I'd fire a man unless I saw my way free of that difficulty? There's old Maple; let him take hold when he is hungry enough to come back to work."
"Maple? A good, steady man, Simon, but not the sort I'd pick. Not a scrap of initiative. He knows enough to do just what he's told to do, but—"
"That's the sort of man I want."
"And what you say goes! Don't trouble to point that out; I have heard it before. Do you mind, however, if I mention another man whom I've been thinking might fit in?"
"Well—who?"
"Copley. Your son. Don't look as if a snake had bit you! I think he would make up in intelligence anything he lacks in experience. He is quick to learn—"
"You may leave him out of your calculations."
Jason started at the tone of the remark, glanced at Varr's set face and shot at him an impulsive question.
"Simon! You haven't gone and quarreled with him too, have you?"
"Never mind that."