“Quite so. ‘The page slew the boar; the peer had the gloire,’ as the old poet said, and the peer, too, has the bigger salary, as a modern writer might remark. You never heard any reason given, I suppose, why Blair holds a better position than Manson?”
“Oh, yes, I did,” cried the impetuous young man, “it is said that Mr. Blair is a relative of your own.”
The expression of displeasure that clouded the face of the railway prince gave instant intimation to Steele that his reply had been tactless.
“I imagine you have a great deal to learn, Mr. Steele, and I predict before you are as old as Mr. Blair you will receive some sharp lessons in diplomacy. You have shown yourself competent to smooth out the roughnesses that formerly characterised the Burdock route, but those same capabilities may not be equal to removing obstacles in your own path of life. The Midland is a well-managed road, and you say the credit belongs to Manson. Very good. I put Manson in his place, and so my purposes are fulfilled. If I made him general manager, as you suggest, he might or might not be a success, yet we are both agreed that he is a success in his present position. Now you, I see by this card, are general manager of the Burdock route. Does the Burdock, therefore, take a high place in the railway system of America?”
“It does not,” candidly admitted John Steele. “Why?”
“Because there is no money behind it.”
“Exactly. My excellent friend, the Honorable Duffield Rogers, has plenty of money, but he knows enough to take care of it. He doesn’t waste any of his wealth in trying to make the Burdock route all that his capable general manager may wish it to be. So you see, Mr. Steele, finance has to be considered as well as good road mending. In that department T. Acton Blair occupies a high position among the railway men of the West. If you ever accumulate a little money, and doubt my statement, venture your cash in a contest where Blair is your opponent, and, I venture to say, you’ll regret it. On the other hand, if you should happen to become a friend of Mr. Blair, and he cared to give you a tip or two in higher finance, you may grow rich in following his lead. In this very matter of the charter there is a possibility that you have entirely underestimated the general manager of the Midland. It is on the cards that he agrees with you and me regarding the worthlessness of the charter.”
“I’ll swear he knew nothing about it,” persisted Steele, knowing as soon as the sentence was uttered that again he had let his tongue run away with his judgment.
“Perhaps he did, and perhaps he didn’t. I strongly suspect he knew all about it, and hoped you would entangle old Rogers into a railway war, in which case I venture to assert, Blair would have crushed both you and your chief. Of course you tried to get Rogers to take up the struggle?”
“Yes, I did.”