If Arthur had not been blinded by his anger he would have known why Mrs. Bundy sought to stop the torrent of his words. For, while he was speaking, young Scales had entered the house, and stood in the doorway watching this unusual scene. The Scales family had returned that evening from their holiday, and it had occurred to young Benjamin Scales to call at Mrs. Bundy's, where he would be sure to find some of his acquaintance. Young Benjamin was not a pleasant youth; he had a mean, narrow face, like his father, and wore eye-glasses, not from any defect of vision, but because he imagined that they gave him an air of cleverness, and among his strong antipathies was jealousy of Arthur. So what more natural than that he should seize avidly on Arthur's angry words, and duly report them to his father, who in turn waited his opportunity of reporting them to Archibold Masterman. The opportunity came a few days later, when Scales went to Brighton to see Masterman upon the Leatham business, which was still undecided. Scales knew very well why it was undecided, and his grudge against Arthur had grown by careful nursing. And now, thanks to Arthur's angry words, he had the means of avenging himself. Masterman had, of course, read Arthur's report, and was secretly delighted with it. It was an admirable piece of writing, plain and convincing, and it was expressed with a lucidity to which he was not accustomed in similar documents. "The boy has brains," he said, as he read it; "he will go far." It was the first time he had tested those brains on any practical affair, and his pride in his son was great. "I'm not at all sure Arthur isn't right," he said to Scales, and so he had postponed decision from day to day. But the time had now come when the decision must be made, and Scales was fully resolved that that decision should be favourable to his own interests. "I don't deny," he said, "that your son's report is admirably done, but you must recollect that he has no real experience of business. And besides----" "Besides what?" "I don't think he will ever understand business." "Why not?" "From words he said to me. From words he has said to others." "What words? Tell me plainly what you mean?" "I had rather not." "Now look here, Scales," said Masterman, "either you have said too much or not enough. In a few weeks Arthur will be my partner, and the sooner you begin to think of him in that way the better for our future relations." "I don't think he will ever be your partner," said Scales quietly. "Why not?" "Because he is a wild, impracticable boy," said Scales, throwing away his caution. "Because he told me that business--your business and mine--was, in his opinion, organised theft. Because he has been going about saying that you are a scoundrel----"