“Isn’t this a good place to learn it?” the young man retorted.
For a long time the old man sat in meditation.
“The iron business,” he said. “Mind now, you said the iron business.”
“Yes.”
“Not the steel business.... Iron! Iron!”
“I don’t know the difference,” said Breakspeare, adding: “Anyhow, you don’t teach the steel business here, do you?”
The old man looked at him heavily. Then he got up to pace the floor. Once, with his face to the wall, he laughed in a mirthless way. That seemed to clear his mind.
“Come Thursday at eight,” he said.