"You are going over to them!" she cried quickly. There was no reproach in her voice, but she gave me a keen look that read to the bottom of my mind. "You will be a tool for the Jew and the Irishman!" There was a smile on her lips and a touch of scorn in her voice. "Tell me, why?" And I told her, as I might a man whom I trusted, just what the situation was--how disastrous had been the row with Carmichael, and how foolish the cause, as I thought. She listened without questions, and I went on to cover the whole matter--to tell of the large plans that our great rival undoubtedly had in view, plans which meant ultimately the consolidation of the entire business in some great corporation under his control. It was as clear to me as handwriting what he was aiming for--the entire food-products business of the country; and it would take a stronger man than Henry I. Dround to stand against him. "So, Mrs. Dround," I concluded, "the best thing you and I can do for Mr. Dround is to advise him to retire, to sell out--" "He would never do that," she interrupted me quietly. "You must make him see it," I urged. "There are some things I cannot do. You will not understand; I cannot tell you--it is not my right. Only he will go on to the bitter end." I bowed. There was nothing further to be said, and we sat silently for a few minutes. "But are you sure," she began again, "that that would be the best way? Is it best to run to your enemy, crying for quarter?" "Not if you can put up a good fight!" She drew her fingers caressingly over the outlines of the old marble. "I think you could put up the right kind of a fight," she remarked quietly. "Suppose that you saw your way clear to go in--to fight--what would you do?" "The first thing," I said, smiling, "would be to hit Strauss between the eyes." [Illustration: "I think you could put up the right kind of a fight," she remarked quietly.] "Just how?" "Do what he is doing, if I could: get together all the independent concerns that could be bought or persuaded into joining. Then you would be in a position to make terms with the railroads and force agreements from the big fellows. And I shouldn't let my scruples stand in the way, either," I added hardily. "Naturally not--if the others were the same kind!" "And if your husband were made like you," I thought to myself, "the chance would be worth the trying." "If," I continued aloud, "you could get the Jevons Brothers, the E.H. Harris Company, Griscom, in Omaha, and two or three others, there would be a beginning. And there is this London and Chicago concern, which could be had cheap," I mused half to myself, remembering Carmichael's words. "I was sure you knew what must be done," she took me up in the same cool, assured tone. "You aren't the man to follow in the traces. You are the kind that leads, that builds. And this is building! What is the first step?"