The Huxtable sat with folded arms, looking at him coldly, magisterially. This young untroubled man was the World, the unrighteous, unanimous World, sitting in judgment on him.
‘You don’t improve your case by losing your temper and being abusive,’ said the World. ‘Your conscience, your whole conscience, should have been bent on serving the Prince’s interests; it was your duty to divest yourself of all personal theories, all prejudices, all principles, and devote yourself only to getting the best price you could. You are not a business man, and you had no right to experiment on the Prince’s behalf with theories of business that never have worked, never will work, and never could work. Nobody will offer you a better price than the Baron, because no one can afford a better price.’
‘Well, you have succeeded me. There are the mines intact. Go to the Baron and get him to renew his offer.’
‘The Baron will not make the same offer again.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Because I have seen the Baron.’
‘You have seen him!... Then all this long discussion was a trap for me?’
‘You can call it a trap if you like, though I think the word is a damaging one for you. I have seen the Baron, and he at once stated that he washed his hands of the whole affair.’
‘But if his only motive is money, things are just as they were a week ago. He can still make his money.’
‘You only expose your ignorance of the man you were so ready to abuse—a man of unsullied reputation, by-the-bye. Money is not his only motive.’