"Good enough to make me forget the sort of thing I was doing. Good enough to blind me as to how things might come out. But I see now! And I'm through with it all!" The chubby little man's eyes were on fire. But he was too experienced in his trade to allow much liberty to anger. "And that's final--that's where you stand?" he asked with comparative calm. "That's where I stand!" cried Blake. "I may have got started crooked, but I'm through with this kind of business now! I'm going back to clean ways! And you, Mr. Brown, you might as well say good-by!" But Mr. Brown was an old campaigner. He never abandoned a battle merely because it apparently seemed lost. He now leaned back in his chair, slowly crossed his short legs, and thoughtfully regarded Blake's excited features. His own countenance had changed its aspect; it had shed its recent hardness, and had not resumed its original cheeriness. It was eminently a reasonable face. "Come, let's talk this whole matter over in a calm manner," he began in a rather soothing tone. "Neither of us wants to be too hasty. There are a few points I'd like to call your attention to, if you'll let me." "Go ahead with your points," said Blake. "But they won't change my decision." "First, let's talk about the company," Mr. Brown went on in his mild, persuasive manner. "Frankly, you've put the company in a hole. Believing that you would keep your end of the bargain, the company has invested a lot of money and started a lot of projects. We bought up practically all the stock of the Westville street car lines, when that municipal ownership talk drove the price so low, because we expected to get a new franchise through your smashing this municipal ownership fallacy. We have counted on big things from the water-works when you got hold of it for us. And we have plans on foot in several other cities of the state, and we've been counting on the failure of municipal ownership in Westville to have a big influence on those cities and to help us in getting what we want. In one way and another this deal here means an awful lot to the company. Your failing us at the last moment means to the company----" "I understand all that," interrupted Blake. "Here's a point for you to consider then: Since the company has banked so much upon your promise, since it will lose so heavily if you repudiate your word, are you not bound in honour to stand by your agreement?" Blake opened his lips, but Mr. Brown raised a hand. "Don't answer now. I just leave that for you to think upon. So much for the company. Now for yourself. We promised you if you carried this deal through--and you know how able we are to keep our promise!--we promised you Grayson's seat in the Senate. And after that, with your ability and our support, who knows where you'd stop?" Mr. Brown's voice became yet more soft and persuasive. "Isn't that a lot to throw overboard because of a scruple?"