"I think it would, if I let conscience interfere constantly, with every business transaction I undertook. Now last week you lost $500 fair and square, because you would not foreclose that mortgage on Smith's property. I told you that 'business is business,' and that while I pitied the poor man, I would not have risked my money that way, but you said that conscience would not let you; that while other creditors were gathering like hungry vultures around the poor man, you would not join with them, and that you did not believe in striking a man when he is down. Now Paul, as a business man, if you want to succeed, you have got to look at business in a practical, common sense way. Smith is dead, and where is your money now?" "Apparently lost; but the time may come when I shall feel that it was one of the best investments I ever made. Stranger things than that have happened. I confess that I felt the loss and it has somewhat cramped my business. Yet if it was to do over again, I don't think that I would act differently, and when I believe that Smith's death was hurried on by anxiety and business troubles, while I regret the loss of my money, I am thankful that I did not press my claim." "Sour grapes, but you are right to put the best face on matters." "No, if it were to do over again, I never would push a struggling man to the wall when he was making a desperate fight for his wife and little ones." "Well! Paul, we are both young men just commencing life, and my motto is to look out for Number 1, and you--" "Oh! I believe in lending a helping hand." "So do I, when I can make every corner out to my advantage. I believe in every man looking out for himself."