you would be glad to meet him. He is
really a very charming man, musical and all that, but chiefly he is
a man of high intelligence and quite at the top of his profession. He
asked to bring a friend of his with him, a Mr. Meyer, whom I do not know
at all; but he is sure to be interesting if he is a friend of Professor
Schaefer's. We have some nice girls, too, so we hope to have an
interesting evening."

The company was sufficiently varied to forbid monotony, and sufficiently
intellectual to be stimulating, and there was always the background of
Big Business. Larry was conscious that he was moving amid large ideas
and far-reaching interests, and that though he himself was a small
element, he was playing a part not altogether insignificant, with a
promise of bigger things in the future. Professor Schaefer became easily
the centre of interest in the party. He turned out to be a man of the
world. He knew great cities and great men. He was a connoisseur in art
and something more than an amateur in music. His piano playing, indeed,
was far beyond that of the amateur. But above everything he was a man
of his work. He knew metals and their qualities as perhaps few men in
America, and he was enthusiastic in his devotion to his profession.
After dinner, with apologies to the ladies, he discoursed from full and
accurate knowledge of the problems to be met within his daily work and
their solutions. He was frequently highly technical, but to everything
he touched he lent a charm that captivated his audience. To Larry he was
especially gracious. He was interested in Canada. He apparently had a
minute knowledge of its mineral history, its great deposits in metals,
in coal, and oil, which he declared to be among the richest in the
world. The mining operations, however, carried out in Canada, he
dismissed as being unworthy of consideration. He deplored the lack of
scientific knowledge and the absence of organisation.

"We should do that better in our country. Ah, if only our Government
would take hold of these deposits," he exclaimed, "the whole world
should hear of them." The nickel mining industry alone in the Sudbury
district he considered worthy of respect. Here he became enthusiastic.
"If only my country had such a magnificent bit of ore!" he cried. "But
such bungling, such childish trifling with one of the greatest, if not
the very greatest, mining industries in the world! To think that the
Government of Canada actually allows t