"You said it!" he announced. "And it's all going to you after we've settled one question... I've been bringing you in little odds and ends as I've had them ... not enough to matter much one way or another ... so I haven't bothered to really get down and talk business. This is a half-million-dollar line and a little bit different. It means about fifteen thousand dollars in premiums, to be exact. You can figure what your commission will be at fifteen per cent, to say nothing of how solid this will make you with the street... Later on there 'll be workmen's compensation, boiler insurance, public liability. It's a pretty nice little plum, if I do say so." Helen stopped her typing. Fred could feel his lips drying with mingled anticipation and apprehension. He knew just what demand Hilmer intended making. "The question is," Hilmer continued, "how much of the commission are you going to split up with me?" Fred shrugged. "You know the rules of the Broker's Exchange as well as I do, Hilmer. I've pledged myself not to do any rebating." Hilmer did not betray the slightest surprise at Starratt's reply. Evidently he had heard something of the same argument before. "Everybody does it," was his calmly brief rejoinder. "You mean Kendrick, to be exact... I'm sorry, but I don't see it that way." "Do you mean that you would rather pass up a half-million-dollar line than share the spoils?" "It isn't a question of choice, Hilmer. You must know I don't want to lose five cents' worth of business. But there are some things a gentleman doesn't do." He was sorry once the last remark had escaped him, but Hilmer didn't seem disconcerted by the covert inference. "Scruples are like laws," Hilmer returned, affably. "I never saw one yet that couldn't be gotten round legitimately." "Oh yes, you can subscribe to any one of the Ten Commandments with your fingers crossed, if you like that kind of a game. But I don't." Hilmer moved in his seat with an implication of leave-taking. "Well, every man to his own taste," he said, as he reached for the blue print and proceeded to fold it up. Starratt leaned toward him. His attitude was strangely earnest. "Do you really like to participate in a game you know to be unfair, Hilmer?--dishonest, in fact?" "Participating? I haven't signed any Broker's Exchange agreement. I'm not breaking any pledge when I accept a share of insurance commission. That's up to the other fellow." "Ah, but you know that he is breaking faith... And a man that will double cross his associates will double cross you if the opportunity presents itself... Would you put a man in charge of your cash drawer when you knew that he had looted some one else's safe?" "That's not the same thing," Hilmer sneered. "That is, it's only the same in theory. Practically, an insurance broker couldn't double cross me if he wanted to... I wouldn't put a thief in charge of my cash drawer, but I might make him a night watchman. He'd know all the tricks of the trade."