“Until Carson is again about we must carry on,” he said. “His Canadian speculations are the London office’s business; I’m responsible for the forge. Well, in the North we’re blunt, and you begin to see how things are done. The company’s a limited company, but the directors don’t meddle; their part’s to approve. When you meet the gentlemen you’ll reply to inquiries politely and not bother them. You will see important customers and get the sort of orders we can profitably execute.”
“The difficulty is, I don’t know the sort of orders——”
“I’ll tell you,” said Marsden. “When fresh transactions are negotiated you will come to me.”
Ledward looked at him rather hard. “You consider you are entitled to superintend?”
“I know my job; you don’t yet know yours. The office gang are useful clerks, that’s all. Then the forge is Carson’s main support. For you to cross me and let down the business would be risky.”
“Oh, well,” said Ledward, “I want your help, and since I’m a beginner I must agree to your control. Have you inquired about the blower?”
“Black was ill. He has been ill for three or four months, and owns he ought not to have taken the night shift. When he tried to turn up the converter he got faint and his hand slipped.”
“But you don’t allow a sick man——”
“Until Carson sent for me I did not imagine Black was sick, but he has done with the converter,” said Marsden grimly. “Well, you haven’t smoked your cigarette, and perhaps the story’s interesting. You have heard about our war-time extravagance, and all was not exaggeration; but it was the extravagance of folks who, for once, were not forced to pinch. On the whole, in the North we’re a parsimonious lot——”
“Anyhow, Black is parsimonious, and his wife had three hundred pounds. When houses can be got, houses are our favorite speculation, and Black joined a building club. He drew a lucky number and bought two cottages. He claims he has not lost a shift since he began at the forge, and I imagine he saved all the pay it was possible to save. Well, he built and mortgaged, and built again, until he owns one side of a new street. He had not, however, used the end plot, and the plot’s important.