“Do you always want to know the why of things?”
“I’m afraid I don’t as a rule bother much, but this is a little amazing, isn’t it?”
“I don’t see why you should think so.”
He studied the fire again.
“Only that you are at the top of the ladder, and I am at the bottom.”
“I was once there too.”
“And did it seem as if it would be impossible ever to reach the top?”
“Yes, often. I don’t think anything but resolute, iron determination ever takes any one up. Influence helps a good many up the lower rungs, and saves them a lot of the drudgery, but it cannot do much else, and unless one is full of grit and purpose at heart, one sticks there.”
“Still, it must be a great help to be pulled through the drudgery.”
“It may mean a good deal of loss also.”