They were wonderful, thought Tommy. He was so glad to see them, so proud of them, that he said:
“Say, Mr. Thompson, what's the reason I can't show these drawings to the men? They'll be quite excited about them—”
“What's your real notion, Tommy?” asked Mr. Thompson, a trifle rebukingly.
Tommy, in point of fact, had assumed only that the men would be as interested as he himself was. How could they help it? But Thompson's question made him instantly perceive Thompsonian possibilities—as perhaps Thompson had meant him to.
“Well, if our men are going to feel like a family we ought to make a family affair out of everything that concerns us all. Let me show them where we are all going to work. In fact, I think I ought to have some information to take to them every day. Then I'll get them used to my job.”
Tommy began to see more and more possibilities the more he thought about them.
“You see, they will know I'm on the inside, and I'll tell them all I know. That will make them feel they are on the inside, too. And they know I am for them first and last, and will feel—”
“Hold on. Don't get excited. You are taking it for granted that they are all as interested in this as you are.”
“Why shouldn't I take it for granted?” challenged Tommy, out of the fullness of his inexperience.
“There is no answer to that, Tommy,” said Thompson, gravely. “Why shouldn't you, indeed?”