l leave it alone, but if it shows signs of
wrecking itself I will assume the role of the benevolent despot and set
it to rights again. Oh, Phyllis, don't you see? It's not just MY company
I'm thinking about. This is an experiment, in which my company will
represent the State. If it succeeds I shall turn the whole machinery
over to the State as my contribution to the betterment of humanity. If
it fails--well, then I shall have demonstrated that the idea is unsound.
Even that is worth something.

"I like to think of the great inventors, experimenting with the
mysterious forces of nature. Their business is to find the natural laws
that govern material things. And I am quite sure that there are
also natural laws designed to govern man in his social and economic
relationships, and when those laws have been discovered the
impossibilities of to-day will become the common practice of to-morrow,
just as steam and electricity have made the impossibilities of yesterday
the common practice of to-day. The first need is to find the law, and to
what more worthy purpose could a man devote himself? When I landed here
yesterday--when I walked again through these old streets--I was a being
without purpose; I was like a battery that had dried up. All these petty
affairs of life seemed so useless, so humdrum, so commonplace, I knew I
could never settle down to them again. Then last night from some unknown
source came a new idea--an inspiration--and presto! the battery is
re-charged, life again has its purposes, and I am eager to be at work.

"I said 'some unknown source,' but it was not altogether unknown. It
had something to do with honest old Murdoch, and his good wife pouring
coffee for the midnight supper in their cozy dining-room, and Phyllis
Bruce across the table! We never know, Phyllis, how much we owe to our
friends; to that charmed circle, be it ever so small, in which every
note strikes in harmony. I know my Big Idea is only playing on the
surface; only skimming about the edges. What the world needs is just
friends."

Grant had talked himself out, but he continued to sit at the little
table, reveling in the happiness of a man who feels that he has been
called to some purpose worth while. His companion hesitated to interrupt
his thoughts; her somewhat drab business experience made her pessimistic
toward all idealism, and yet she felt that here, surely, was a man who
could carry almost any project through to success. The unique q