“Oh, it’s not difficult. All that is required is to do your duty. I think it’s nothing against a young man that he is ambitious. That ought to be in his favour, especially with a man like my father, because he has always been very ambitious himself: and I think the great drawback with workingmen is that they do not seem to care whether they better their positions or not. You can’t do anything for a man who won’t help himself: and you are ambitious, aren’t you?”
“Very. Too much so, I sometimes think.”
“Oh, one cannot be too ambitious, unless one is a man like Napoleon and thoroughly base and wicked. Then it’s wrong, of course. Now, if you want my advice—but perhaps you think I know nothing about these things?”
“Miss Sartwell, I would rather have your advice than any one else’s in the world, and I will follow it to the letter.”
“You do take things too seriously. What a weight of responsibility you would place upon my shoulders! No, you must hear the advice first, and then judge whether it is best to follow it or not. I think you should work along quietly for a year or two, doing your very best and saying as little as possible. Father likes a man who does things, rather than one who says things. He doesn’t believe much in talk. Then, when you see he trusts you implicitly, perhaps by that time he will offer you the situation; but if he doesn’t, you let me know, and I will speak to him about it. Oh, I shall approach the subject very diplomatically. I shall begin by asking how you are getting on at the works, and if he speaks well of you, I will suggest that you be given a better position than the one you are in. How do you like my plan?”
“It is an admirable one, but—but——”
“But what? Where is the objection to it?”
“There is no objection, except that I may get rather discouraged as time goes on.”
“Oh, that is nonsense. You are interested in your work, are you not?”
“Very much so, but if I could see you now and again, I—well—wouldn’t become hopeless or despondent, you see. If that could be managed——”