"You mean that I would back out of the contract at the last?"
"No, I don't mean any such thing. I know you are not only a man of honour, but a man of courage; but if you should bungle——"
"Look here, we need not go any further into details," Rufus said, impatiently. "My point is you are not a bit troubled about me as long as you get your money back."
"Oh, but I am! I would rather you prospered than that you failed, any day. Still, if in the order of chance you should fail—well——," and he shrugged his shoulders, "It would be in the eternal order, that's all."
"You would not fret, of course?"
"My dear fellow, why should I? We must all pass out into the great silence sooner or later. And now, or next year, or next century for that matter, matters little. You and I have got beyond the region of sentiment in such things. Nature sets no value on human life. We take our place among the ants and flies, and the human is treated as remorselessly as the insect. The wind passeth over both, and they are gone."
"Yes, that is true enough," Rufus answered, looking out of the window.
"Besides," Muller went on, as if he read his thoughts, "in the business of life we are bound to take risks."
"You mean money risks?"
"Not only money risks. A man who drives to market, who explores a mine, who crosses the sea in the interests of commerce, who fights for his country, not only risks his property, but he risks his life."