one thought rapidly and to the point. His mind was soon made up.
"I decline to commit myself." The door closed behind him, shutting off
further discussion.

The abrupt termination of the interview was more than disappointing to
Hartwell. It carried with it an element of fear. He had played his game
obstinately, with obvious defiance in the presence of Zephyr and Bennie;
with their departure he had counted on a quiet discussion with
Firmstone. He had no settled policy further than to draw Firmstone out,
get him to commit himself definitely while he, with no outward sign of
yielding, could retreat with flying colours. He now recognised the fact
that the knives with which he had been juggling were sharper and more
dangerous than he had thought, but he also felt that, by keeping them in
the air as long as possible, when they fell he could at least turn their
points from himself. Firmstone's departure brought them tumbling about
his ears in a very inconsiderate manner. He must make another move, and
in a hurry. Events were no longer even apparently under his control;
they were controlling him and pushing him into a course of action not at
all to his liking.

The element of fear, before passive, was now quivering with intense
activity. He closed his mind to all else and bent it toward the
forestalling of an action that he could not but feel was immediate and
pressing.

Partly from Firmstone, partly from Pierre, he had gathered a clear idea
that a union was being organised, and this knowledge had impelled him to
a course that he would now have given worlds to recall.

This act was none else than the engaging of a hundred or more non-union
men. On their arrival, he had intended the immediate discharge of the
disaffected and the installing of the new men in their places. He had
chuckled to himself over the dismay which the arrival of the men would
create, but even more over the thought of the bitter rage of Morrison
and Pierre when they realised the fact that they had been outwitted and
forestalled. The idea that he was forcing upon Firmstone a set of
conditions for which he would refuse to stand sponsor had occurred to
him only as a possibility so remote that it was not even considered. He
was now taking earnest counsel with himself. If Firmstone had
contemplated resignation under circumstances of far less moment than the
vital one of which he was still ignorant--Hartwell drew his hand slowly
across his moistening forehead,