“Thanks for the compliment! Of course, you get on better without me. ’Twas always thus! Well, that first time was hardly a fair example of my effect upon womankind. The air was surcharged with electricity; Nan had made a trifling error of judgment and had been brought promptly to book. I’ve always rather admired people who follow their impulses; it’s my disposition to examine my own under the microscope. Don’t check yourself too much: I find your spontaneity refreshing, particularly now that your verbs and nouns are more nearly in agreement. You say Copeland and Kinney are off motoring, to look at a new factory?” He lifted his eyes to one of the file-boxes absently. “I wish they’d wait till we get rid of that suit over Kinney’s patents before they spread out. The case ought to be decided soon and there are times—”
He rose quickly, walked to the shelves and drew down a volume in which he instantly became absorbed. Then he went back to his desk and refilled his pipe deliberately.
“I think,” he remarked, “that we shall win the case; but you never can tell. By the way, what is your impartial judgment of the merits of Corbin & Eichberg—rather wide-awake fellows, aren’t they?”
As Jerry began to express scorn by a contemptuous curl of the lip and an outward gesture of his stiffened palm, Eaton reprimanded him sharply.
“Speak judicially; no bluster; none of this whang about their handling inferior goods. The fact is they are almost offensively prosperous and carry more traveling men after ten years’ business than Copeland-Farley with thirty years behind them.”
“Well,” Jerry replied meekly, “I guess they are cutting in a little; Eichberg had made a lot of money before he went into drugs and they’ve got more capital than C-F.”
“That increases the danger of the competition. Eichberg is a pretty solid citizen. For example, he’s a director in the Western National.”
“I guess that won’t help him sell any drugs,” said Amidon, who resented this indirect praise of Corbin & Eichberg.
“Not directly; no.” And Eaton dropped the subject with a finality Jerry felt bound to accept.
Foreman had intimated that in due course Copeland-Farley would be absorbed by Corbin & Eichberg; possibly the same calamity was foreshadowed in Eaton’s speculations.