‘Penalty? I never heard of any.’
‘Unquestionably you must be mistaken. Your company orders you to come here and rudely break up an innocent amusement, and furnishes you no way to enforce the order! Don’t you see that that is nonsense? What do you do when people refuse to obey this order? Do you take the cards away from them?’
‘No.’
‘Do you put the offender off at the next station?’
‘Well, no—of course we couldn’t if he had a ticket.’
‘Do you have him up before a court?’
The conductor was silent and apparently troubled. The Major started a new deal, and said:
‘You see that you are helpless, and that the company has placed you in a foolish position. You are furnished with an arrogant order, and you deliver it in a blustering way, and when you come to look into the matter you find you haven’t any way of enforcing obedience.’
The conductor said, with chill dignity:
‘Gentlemen, you have heard the order, and my duty is ended. As to obeying it or not, you will do as you think fit.’ And he turned to leave.