“I was just going up to see you, Mr. Manson. I want you to do me a favour. I’m off to New York, and I’d like a letter of introduction to Mr. Rockervelt.”
The brow of the division superintendent knitted slightly, and he did not answer so readily as the other expected.
“Well, it’s like this, Steele,” he said at last: “I am merely a small official, and Mr. Rockervelt is an important man who knows his own importance. Etiquette prescribes that I should give you a letter to the general manager, who is the proper person to introduce you to Mr. Rockervelt. So, you see——”
“Oh, very well,” exclaimed Steele, sorry he had asked. This rebuff, following so closely on the heels of his disappointment, clouded his usual good nature. He was about to go on, when Manson detained him, grasping the lapel of his coat.
“Don’t be offended, John; and I’ll tell you something no one else knows. I’m going to quit the railway business.”
“What!” shouted Steele, all his old affection for the man surging up within him as he now noted the trouble in his face. Manson quit the railway business! It was as if he had calmly announced his intention to commit suicide.
“That old fool Blair has been making trouble for you?” he cried.
“Oh, no! That is to say, there always has been a slight tension, and it doesn’t grow better. I’ve made a little money—real estate has risen, you know, and that sort of thing—and I’ve been working hard, so I intend to resign. I take it you have some scheme to propose to Mr. Rockervelt?”
“Yes, I have.”
“Very well. Your scheme, if it is a good one, will prove your best introduction. He’s an accessible man; but plunge right to the point when you meet him. He likes directness. And, by the way, he will be in Warmington on Wednesday morning. The big conference of railway presidents begins Thursday afternoon at Portandit, and he will be there, of course. We attach his private car to Number Three, Wednesday night, and your best time to see him might be in his car during the four miles he’s running to the Junction. The express waits for him at the Junction. You haven’t much time, but it will prove all the time he’ll want to allow you if your project doesn’t appeal to him.”