It was a great shock to hear him speak in this tone. Somehow I had become so accustomed to look up to Nordenholt as a tower of strength that it was hard to realise that there might some day be a change of masters. And yet, like all his views, this was accurate. When we reached the other bank, he would have strained himself to the utmost and would have very few reserves left. “I’ve been watching you, Jack,” he went on. “I’ve got fairly sharp ears; and your talks in the car interested me.” I was aghast at this; for I had believed that these dreams and plannings were things entirely between Miss Huntingtower and myself. They certainly were not meant for anyone else. “At first,” he went on, “I thought it was only talk to pass the time; but by-and-by I saw how it attracted you both. After all, there are worse ways of passing an afternoon than in building castles in the air. But what I liked about your castles was that they had their roots in the earth. You have a knack of solid building, Jack, even in your dreams. It’s a rare gift, very rare. I felt more friendly to you when I followed all that.” There was no patronage in his tone. As usual, he seemed to be stating what appeared to him an obvious conclusion. “The upshot is,” he went on, “that I’m going to dismiss you from your present post and put you in charge of a new Department dealing with Reconstruction. There will be one condition--or rather two conditions--attached to it; but they aren’t hard ones. Will you take it?” Of course I was taken completely aback. I had never dreamed of such a thing; and I hardly knew what to say. I stammered some sort of an acceptance as soon as I could find my voice. “Very good. You cut loose from your present affairs from this moment. Anglesey will take over. You can give him all the pointers he asks for to-day; and after that he must fend for himself. I’ll have no two minds on that line of work. “Now as to the new thing. It will make you my successor, of course; and I want to start with a word of warning. Unlimited power is bad for any man. You have only to look at the example of the Cæsars to see that: Caligula, Tiberius, Nero, you’ll find the whole sordid business in Suetonius. And I can tell you the same thing at first hand myself. I’ve got unlimited power here nowadays; and it isn’t doing me any good. I feel that I am going downhill under it daily. You’ll probably see it yourself before long, although I’ve fought to keep it in check. So much for the warning.