Graves continued to examine the man before him with his shrewd little eyes, and Hart realized that the contractor had given the news to the papers for the precise purpose of finding out where the trustees stood.
"Well, when you get ready to build the school I expect we shall be doing a good deal of business together," Graves remarked tentatively.
The architect moved back in his chair, more comfortable at the change in the conversation.
"I shall want you to bid, of course. But I don't know yet whether the trustees mean to let the contract as a whole."
"They'll do pretty much what you say, won't they? Ain't one of them your cousin?"
"Yes."
"Well, I want that contract. Can't you fix it so's I can get it?"
Hart knew altogether too well what the contractor meant by this blunt request. An architect has it in his power to draw his specifications in such a manner that only a few favored contractors will dare to bid. If outsiders venture to bid for the work, they cannot with safety go low enough to get the contract. In the case of a large building this is a more difficult manoeuvre to manage than with less important work. Yet even with a building of the importance of the projected school, contractors would be chary of bidding against a man who was as closely identified with the architect as Graves was with Hart.
"They say now," Hart protested, "that nobody else gets a show in my office."
"I don't believe you see what there might be in this for you, Mr. Hart," the contractor persisted, without replying directly to the architect's objection.