ay. But, Grant, I do."

"I believe you. But why this sudden worry over me? I was merely spending
the evening at a neighbor's."

"Yes--at Transley's. Transley was in town, and Mrs. Transley is--not
responsible--where you are concerned."

"Linder!"

"I saw it all that night at dinner there. Some things are plain to
everyone--except those most involved. Now it's not my job to say to you
what's right and wrong, but the way it looks to me is this: what's the
use of setting up a new code of morality about money which concerns,
after all, only some of us, if you're going to knock down those things
which concern all of us?"

Grant regarded his foreman for some time without answering. "I
appreciate your frankness, Linder," he said at length. "Your friendship,
which I can never question, gives you that privilege. Man to man, I'm
going to be equally frank with you. To begin with, I suppose you will
admit that Y.D.'s daughter is a strong character, a woman quite capable
of directing her own affairs?"

"The stronger the engine the bigger the smash if there's a wreck."

"It's not a case of wrecking; it's a case of trying to save something
out of the wreck. Convention, Linder, is a torture-monger; it binds men
and women to the stake of propriety and bids them smile while it snuffs
out all the soul that's in them. We have pitted ourselves against
convention in economic affairs; shall we not--"

"No! It was pure unselfishness which led you into the Big Idea. That
isn't what's leading you now."

"Well, let me put it another way. Transley is a clever man of affairs.
He knows how to accomplish his ends. He applied the methods--somewhat
modified for the occasion--of a landshark in winning his wife. He makes
a great appearance of unselfishness, but in reality he is selfish to the
core. He lavishes money on her to satisfy his own vanity, but as for her
finer nature, the real Zen, her soul if you like--he doesn't even know
she has one. He obtained possession by false pretences. Which is the
more moral thing--to leave him in possession, or to throw him out?
Didn't you yourself hear him say that men who are worth their salt take
what they want?"

"Since when did you let him set YOUR standards?"

"That's hardly fair."

"I think it is. I think, too, that you are arguing against your own
convictions. Well, I've had my say. I deliberately came out to-day
without Murdoch so that I might have it. You would be quite justified
in firing