You don't do anything to earn this money;
you're of no earthly use on the Board. If I chose,
I could put you off at the end of the year as easily as I
can blow out this match. But I propose not only to keep
you on, but to make you independent. Why do I do that?
You should ask yourself that question. It can't be on
account of anything you can do for the Company. What else
then? Why, first and foremost, because you are the father
of your daughter."
"Let me tell you the kind of man I am," said the General,
inflating his chest, and speaking with solemnity.
"Oh, I know the kind of man you are," Thorpe interrupted
him, coolly. "I want to talk now."
"It was merely," Kervick ventured, in an injured tone,
"that I can be as loyal as any man alive to a true friend."
"Well, I'll be the true friend, then," said Thorpe,
with impatient finality. "And now this is what I want to say.
I'm going to be a very rich man. You're not to say so
to anybody, mind you, until the thing speaks for itself.
We're keeping dark for a few months, d'ye see?--lying low.
Then, as I say, I shall be a very rich man. Well now,
I wouldn't give a damn to be rich, unless I did with my
money the things that I wanted to do, and got the things
with it that I wanted to get. Whatever takes my fancy,
that's what I'll do.
Pages:
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174