Ruxton beheld these things with greater understanding than his father. Moreover, he interpreted them with that sympathetic understanding of one who possesses great ideals of his own. Whoever this man might be, wherever he came from, one thing was beyond all question in his mind. Here was no mere huckster seeking to trade his wares for the sole purpose of gain. Gain might be his object, but somehow he felt that it was not wholly so, not even paramount in his consideration. It seemed to him that the man had spoken the truth when he had said that his efforts were directed in the service of humanity. But for all his understanding he had no intention of accepting his own reading without proof from the only direction in which proof could come. "And what is the commercial aspect of the matter--between us?" he enquired in his most businesslike tone. Mr. Smith looked up in a startled way from the deep reverie into which his own words had plunged him. "Commercial?" he echoed a little helplessly. "Yes." Ruxton smiled. "The--price." Mr. Smith nodded readily and smiled back. But his reply carried no conviction. "Yes, yes," he said hurriedly. "I was thinking. Of course--yes. The price." His infantile manner brought a smile to the shrewd face of Sir Andrew. Ruxton only waited. "I--had forgotten," Mr. Smith went on. Then, with his curious tenacious hands clasped about one knee, a hopeless sort of distress slowly filled his eyes. "It--it is difficult," he stumbled. Then quite suddenly a world of relief seemed to come to him. "Would it not be better to leave terms until you have seen, and proved for yourselves, of what my constructed vessel is capable? You see, any price I could name now would sound--er--excessive." The manner of this strange creature was so delightfully naive that even the keen Yorkshire features of Sir Andrew were reduced to a smile of enjoyment. "That's the way I like to hear an inventor talk, Mr. Smith," he cried heartily. "Most of 'em want large sums in options on the bare model and registered patents. If your invention--the constructed vessel is capable of what you claim for it, it is worth--millions." But the millionaire's encouragement seemed to have an adverse effect upon the inventor. Trouble crept again into his eyes, and he passed one thin hand across his splendid forehead. "If it serves to save innocent lives in the future, sir, it has done all that I ask of it," he said at last. "Its value to me then could never be reckoned in millions. There would not be enough cyphers in the mind of man to express that value." To Ruxton the riddle of this man was growing in obscurity. For all his understanding Mr. Smith's attitude demanded explanation which as yet he was unable to give it. But something in the nature of solution to the riddle was nearer than he had supposed. It came in the man's words which were added in further reply to his father.