"Failed?" said Marcia, in an incredulous tone. "I thought it was the great people,—I mean people in business, or with estates, that failed."
"Well, have I not been in business?"
"Yes,—as secretary, and you have a salary. How can a man with a salary fail?"
"Quite easily. Suppose the Vortex fails? My salary would stop."
"That isn't failing, is it? Then Pompey might fail, if he didn't get his pay for brushing your boots."
Mr. Sandford gave a contemptuous look.
"That shows how much you know about business."
"I never did know about your business; nor does anybody, I believe. I never could understand how, with your little property, you had these 'transactions,' as you call them, where you owed people and people owed you so many thousands."
"It is not necessary for you to know. Women can't understand these things."
"But women feel their effects, and it's a pity they could not learn about what concerns them."