Shirley turned the papers over carelessly.
"So you think your life is a good example to follow?" she asked with a tinge of irony.
"Isn't it?" he demanded.
The girl looked him square in the face.
"Suppose," she said, "we all wanted to follow it, suppose we all wanted to be the richest, the most powerful personage in the world?"
"Well—what then?" he demanded.
"I think it would postpone the era of the Brotherhood of man indefinitely, don't you?"
"I never thought of it from that point of view," admitted the billionaire. "Really," he added, "you're an extraordinary girl. Why, you can't be more than twenty—or so."
"I'm twenty-four—or so," smiled Shirley.
Ryder's face expanded in a broad smile. He admired this girl's pluck and ready wit. He grew more amiable and tried to gain her confidence. In a coaxing tone he said: