had she answered,
in what she already had said, the question which lay below what he had
asked her? In her defense of business, did she know all the cruelties
of business and defend the wrong she knew, together with the right, as
inevitable? Or did she not know all of what was known even under her
father's roof; and if she knew all, would she then loathe or defend it?
Another motor sped near, halted and then speeded on again; Eaton,
looking up, saw it was a runabout with Avery alone in it; evidently,
seeing them in the road, Avery had halted to protest, then thought
better of it and gone on. But other motors passed now with people who
spoke to Harriet and who stopped to inquire for her father and wish him
well.

"Your father does not seem to be one of the great men without honor in
his own neighborhood," Eaton said to her after one of these had halted
and gone on.

"Every one who knows Father likes and admires him!" she rejoiced.

"I don't mean exactly that," Eaton went on. "They must trust him too,
in an extraordinary way. His associates must place most complete
confidence in him when they leave to him the adjustment of matters such
as I understand they do. There is no way, as I comprehend it, that any
of the powerful men who ask his advice could hold him accountable if he
were unfair to them; yet men of the most opposite types, the most
inimical and hostile, place their affairs in his hands. He tells them
what is just, and they abide by his decision."

Harriet shook her head. "No; it isn't quite that," she said.

"What, then?"

"You are correct in saying that men of the most opposite sorts--and
most irreconcilable to each other--constantly place their fate in
Father's hand; and when he tells them what they must do, they abide by
his decision. But he doesn't decide for them what is just."

"I don't understand."

"Father cannot tell them which side is just because, if he did that,
they wouldn't consider his decision; and they wouldn't ask him to make
any more; he would lose all influence for better relations. So he
doesn't tell them what is just."

"What does he tell them, then?"

"He tells them what would be the outcome if they fought, who would win
and who would lose and by how much. And they believe him and abide by
his decision without fighting; for he knows; and they know that he
knows and is absolutely honest."

Eaton was silent for a moment as they walked along. "How can he come
to his