"Why, Mr. March, you can't suppose, do you, that your high ambitions and purposes——"
"Oh, they're not mine; they're my father's. The details and execution are mine——"
"But, anyhow, you share them; you've said so. You don't suppose your associates——"
"What; share them the same way I do? Why, no, Miss Barb; it wouldn't be fair to expect that, would it? And yet, in a certain way, on a lower plane—from a simply commercial standpoint—they do. I don't include your father with them! I only wish I could reflect the spirit of my father's wishes and hopes as perfectly as he does."
"Mr. March, don't men sometimes go into such enterprises as yours simply to plunder and ruin those that go in honestly with them?"
"Oh, undoubtedly. You see, in this case——"
"Mr. March——"
"Yes, Miss Barb——"
"I believe certain men are in your company with that intention."
"But you don't know it, do you? Else you would naturally tell your father instead of me. You only——" He hesitated,