"I'm glad you're satisfied, and I'll try to keep it up, I assure you," said Smith. He hesitated a moment. "But there is one phase of all this thing which I haven't forgotten and which I don't think you have, either, and that is how we came originally to be dragged out of the Conference and exposed to all these attacks."
"I have not forgotten it," said Mr. Wintermuth, stiffly; "but I think there can be no advantage in discussing it."
"I beg your pardon, sir, but I do not agree with you in that—and for this reason," rejoined the other. "Just one man is responsible for most of our trouble. He caused us to resign from the Conference, he tried to steal our agents and our business when we were out and succeeded in some pretty important cases, he got our branch manager away from us, and alienated some of our best local brokers, and—I have no proof of this last and perhaps I should not discredit my predecessor—but I can't help feeling that he induced some mutual friends of yours and his to suggest Mr. Gunterson's name to you."
"No," said the President, shaking his head. "The man who mentioned Gunterson to me is a real friend of mine—it was merely his judgment that was at fault."
"Well, I'm glad to hear it," the other responded. "But the point is this: is O'Connor likely to stop now? That's what we've got to consider."
"It is no particular concern of mine what Mr. O'Connor does or where he stops," said the President, with magnificent but impractical dignity.
"Well, it is of mine," Smith retorted, "because I want to know what he's going to do next. O'Connor has played several very shabby tricks on you and on the Guardian—things that must, even in his own eyes, seem discreditable. The fact that we know what a rascal he is doesn't help us much if we just sit here with our hands folded. And the fact that at last we have begun to defend ourselves will not endear us to him the more—on the contrary it will make him even more vicious toward us. No, he won't stop where he is; we shall hear from him again."
Smith was possibly correct in his conclusion; but for the moment all was very quiet along the Salamander battle front—if battle front it were. So he went off to interview the vigilant and ambitious Ferguson; and for four days the home office saw him no more.
In the many years during which the Guardian had conducted its sane and conservative business life, it had gathered into its grasp a great many desirable adjuncts and aids to the smooth and proper operation of a first-class fire insurance company. Its agency plant, while not one of the largest, was second to none in the character and ability of the agents themselves; its force of office and field men was adequate; even its stationery was simple and dignified and well adapted to the ordinary uses of the management.
Perhaps at no time had Mr. Wintermuth's good fortune served him better than when he secured the Guardian's principal reinsurance treaty. Nearly every large company has contracts with one or more reinsurance companies, usually foreign, and whenever an agent writes a policy for a greater amount than his company thinks it prudent to hazard on the risk in question, it cedes to one or more of these reinsurers such a proportion of the risk as it feels disinclined to retain, paying to the reinsurers an equal proportion of the original premium. The larger the policies a company is willing to write, the higher the esteem in which it is held by its agents, as a rule; and the Guardian had always, thanks to the excellent reinsurance facilities it enjoyed, been able to take care of very liberal lines on all acceptable classes of business. Moreover, since the treaty company paid the Guardian for its proportion of the premium a higher rate of commission than the Guardian paid the agent who wrote the risk, the transaction was profitable to the Guardian. The reinsurance company could afford to pay the higher commission, because it had no expensive agency plant to maintain, it did not need conspicuous offices, it employed no field men or inspectors, and in fact, except for the inevitable losses, this commission paid for the business was its only important expense.