“H'm!” grunted Colonel Willetts, looking like the chief of the general staff. “H'm! Pure friendship! Fine business reason!” Tommy felt himself on the verge of becoming annoyed, but he subdued his feelings and answered with what you might call a smile of earnestness. “Yes, sir--pure friendship. I can't think of a better reason in this world for a man who is not a hog or a dog in the manger.” “H'm! Nothing personal in your remarks, I take it.” And the colonel fixed his fiercely frowning eyes on Tommy. He had inherited the bulk of his great fortune, but loved to play at doing business with a martial air. “Sure, it's personal. Rivington, who is my best friend, happens to be your son. That's my reason. I consider it a very good reason. Even if I wanted to sell stock to a stranger, I wouldn't be allowed to do so.” “Sell stock, hey?” Tommy did not like the colonel's voice nor his look nor the suggestion of a sneer. So he said: “Won't you please read that statement, Colonel? Just a moment, please. I'd like to say something before you begin.” The colonel looked at him over his eye-glasses and Tommy, his voice ringing with his own sense of the sacredness of his mission, said: “Whether you take some of the stock or not, I want you to understand very clearly, sir, that every word of that paper is true. I vouch for it personally from my own knowledge. And though it won't hurt the company in the slightest if you should decide not to make Rivington one of our stockholders, it will be a great disappointment to me not to have my friends with me in the work that I propose to devote my life to. Now won't you please read on?” The colonel without another word began to read the statement that Thompson had prepared for Tommy's benefit. When he finished he pursed up his lips and frowned. He tapped the papers meditatively with his finger-tips for fully a minute before he spoke. “Tommy, I never mix altruism with business. When I give money I give it. When I invest money I expect all the profit that I am legitimately entitled to.” “All that any man is legitimately entitled to from the labor of others is a fair profit. This is not a gamble--” “All business is a gamble,” interrupted the colonel, shortly. “Perhaps it wouldn't be if altruism were mixed with it oftener than it is,” said Tommy, trying not to speak heatedly. He was Door Opener to the men in the shop--his men. And they were entitled to more than the wages that he thought Colonel Willetts would like to fix for them. “Are you a socialist?” frowned Colonel Willetts. “I'm not a regular socialist, but I can see that business in the future must be conducted in a different way. Mr. Thompson is looking ahead farther than most men.” “He thinks he is.” “He really is. You see, Colonel, I know him and you don't,” smiled Tommy. Then he said, very impressively, “I consider him the greatest man in this country to-day.”