“I suppose that is approximately what I had in mind,” he admitted.
“To answer your question then, directly, I don’t intend to do anything. Nothing is further from my plans than to get a position where I’ll be talked about.”
“Just what do you want, then?”
“I want the substance, not the husk. I want to be the party that pulls the wires and not the figures that dance on the front of the stage. I want things done when I say they shall be done. I want the piper to play when I pass the word. I’m perfectly willing that others should have the honor and the glory and the limelight; but after the play is over I want to be the boy to whom the report is made and who gives directions for the next performance. Is that definite enough?”
“Yes, definite enough; but are you going to get there? You asked me the same question, you recall, a bit ago.”
“Yes, if I live.”
“And if you don’t live?”
Again the shrug. “I shall have tried. I can tell Saint Peter that.”
“I didn’t refer to Saint Peter. I meant you yourself. Where is your own justification except in the attainment of the end?” 30
“Justification!” Roberts leaned suddenly forward, his attitude no longer that of an observer but of a participant, one in the front of the charge. “The game is its own justification, man! Things don’t have to be done with two hundred bright young students watching and listening to be worth while, my friend.”