“Thank you.” Mr. Wentworth turned again to his secretary. Mr. Hope had paled visibly. “Half an hour after you dismissed Mr. Rand you repeated his conversation to me, Mr. Hope. It is my remembrance that it concerned a natural gas strike in Alberta, near property held by this young man’s mother. Is that correct?” “Yes, sir, I—yes, as near as I can remember it,” said Mr. Hope. “You said nothing to me about burning coal without mining it. I assume he said nothing to you along those lines.” “No, sir, he did not.” Mr. Hope answered more firmly this time. “Just a moment, Mr. Rand.” Jimmy’s anger was proving too much for him; he had taken a step forward toward Mr. Hope, with his fists clenched. The president went on swiftly: “Thank you, Mr. Hope. I think I understand the circumstances now. You may go, gentlemen.” The president indicated Mr. Merkle and Jimmy. “Mr. Hope,” he went on, when they were alone, “for some years you have been my secretary. I have had no cause to criticize your work unduly, nor do I think I have treated you unfairly as an employer. “What has just transpired needs no additional words between us. It is entirely self-evident. Explanations are futile, recriminations idle. As you know, Mr. Hope, integrity of character is one thing this company demands above all else. For a person without it there can be no place in this organization. I must ask you therefore to let me have your resignation, to take effect immediately.” Mr. Hope stood up. He hesitated an instant, then met the president’s eyes squarely. “Very well, sir. If that is what you wish, you shall have it at once.” Then with a punctilious little bow, he turned and left the office. CHAPTER IX. THE MAINSPRING OF ENDEAVOR. One morning, some two years after Mr. Leffingwell Hope was thus summarily dismissed from the Wentworth company, Mr. James Rand, assistant general manager of the Wentworth Optical Glass Company, was seated in the private office of Robert G. Wentworth, president of the parent organization. They had been two eventful years to Jimmy. For five months after his momentous second interview with the president, the technical men of the company had worked on the plan, making endless experiments. Then there was the investigation of Mrs. Rand’s property. Additional borings were made. The coal measures were estimated as to quantity and extent, and the sand was similarly valued. With Jimmy’s mother the company dealt in a strictly businesslike manner. Her property was purchased. She received an adequate amount in cash, and a substantial block of stock in the new company. Then the legal department of the company took the matter up, and innumerable applications for patents covering the special apparatus that had been devised were made. Then the board of directors of the Wentworth company met, and plans for the organizing and financing of a new company were outlined.