"And accomplishing nothing. Strange as it may seem to you, I'm serious."

"I don't doubt it, old man." Of a sudden the smile had pa.s.sed. "I can't adjust my point of view to yours at all. If I thought dollars were the end of existence I'd quit the game now. If the world has come to this--"

"The world hasn't come to it and never will. You simply can't or won't see the point. I repeat, that of themselves they're nothing, but they're the means to everything. Get your competency first, your balance-wheel, your independence, your established base of supplies; then plan your campaign. The world is big, infinitely big, to the human being who can command. It's a little mud ball to the other who has to dance whenever some one else whistles."

"And how about happiness, the thing we're all after?"

"It isn't happiness, but it's the means to it. There can be no happiness without independence."

"Even marital happiness?"

"That most of all. I tell you the lack of a sufficient income is the rock on which most married people go to pieces. It isn't the only one, but it's the most frequent. I've seen and I know."

"You'd drive our old friend Cupid out of business, Darley. You don't give him an inch of ground to stand on."

"On the contrary, I keep him in business indefinitely--"

"Moreover, the examples of the rich, scattered broadcast through the daily papers, hardly bear you out."

"They are the exception that proves the rule. Nine hundred and ninety-nine poor couples come to grief, and the world never hears of it.

In the thousandth case a rich man and woman make fools of themselves and the world reads the scandal next morning. The principle is unaltered. The exceptions, the irresponsibles whether rich or poor, are something to which no rule applies."

"All right." Armstrong sat up, preventingly. "I don't want to argue with you. You're a typical lawyer and always ride me down by pure force of ma.s.s." He smiled. "Gentlemen of the law are invariably that way, Darley.

Figuratively, you fellows always travel horseback while the rest of us go afoot, and if we don't hustle out of the way you ride us down without remorse."

Roberts was listening again in silence, with his normal att.i.tude of pa.s.sive observance.

"I'm feeling pretty spry, though, to-night," went on the other, "and able to get out of the way, so I'm going to get in close as possible and watch you. I've tried to do so before, but somehow I'm always side-tracked just at the psychological moment." The quizzical voice became serious, the flippant manner vanished. "Honestly, Darley, I can't understand you any more than you can me. You said a bit ago you wondered where I would end.

I have the same wonder about you. Just what are you aiming at, old man, anyway? In all the years I've known you _you've_ never come right out and said in so many words."

"You mean what do I intend to do that will make me famous or infamous, that will at least make me talked about?"

Armstrong laughed shortly. The shot was well aimed.

"I suppose that is approximately what I had in mind," he admitted.

"To answer your question then, directly, I don't intend to do anything.

Nothing is further from my plans than to get a position where I'll be talked about."

"Just what do you want, then?"

"I want the substance, not the husk. I want to be the party that pulls the wires and not the figures that dance on the front of the stage. I want things done when I say they shall be done. I want the piper to play when I pa.s.s the word. I'm perfectly willing that others should have the honor and the glory and the limelight; but after the play is over I want to be the boy to whom the report is made and who gives directions for the next performance. Is that definite enough?"

"Yes, definite enough; but are you going to get there? You asked me the same question, you recall, a bit ago."

"Yes, if I live."

"And if you don't live?"

Again the shrug. "I shall have tried. I can tell Saint Peter that."

"I didn't refer to Saint Peter. I meant you yourself. Where is your own justification except in the attainment of the end?"

"Justification!" Roberts leaned suddenly forward, his att.i.tude no longer that of an observer but of a partic.i.p.ant, one in the front of the charge.

"The game is its own justification, man! Things don't have to be done with two hundred bright young students watching and listening to be worth while, my friend."

Armstrong shifted uncomfortably, then he tacked.

"Just one more question, a repet.i.tion again of your own. Have you the attainment of this object you suggest definitely in sight? You're older than I and have been playing the game some time yourself."

"I think so."

"Do you know so?"

"As nearly as a man can know anything that hasn't come to pa.s.s."

"Just how, Darley? I'm absolutely in the dark in regard to your deals and I'm curious to know the inside. You've got something particular in mind, I know, or you wouldn't speak that way."

For the first time in minutes Roberts looked at the other, looked steadily, blankly.

"I'm sorry genuinely, Armstrong, but I can't tell you now. Don't misunderstand, please. I'd tell you if I were not under obligation; but I'm not at liberty yet to say." His glance left the other's face. "I trust you understand."

"Yes, certainly." The voice was short. "No offence, I'm sure."

That there was offence was obvious, yet Roberts made no further comment or explanation.

For perhaps a minute there was silence; in characteristic change of thought absolute Armstrong shifted.

"As long as we're in the confidant business," he digressed, "there's still one question I'd like to ask, Darley. Elice and I have been intimate now for a number of years. I've asked you repeatedly to call with me and you've always refused. Even yet you've barely met her. I quote you by the yard when I'm with her, and, frankly, she's--curious why you stay at arm's length. Between yourself and myself why is it, Darley?"

Roberts laughed; an instant later the light left his face.

"You know I have few women acquaintances," he said.

"I know, but this particular case is different."

"And those I do have," completed the other, "are all securely married."

Armstrong colored.

"I don't mean that," smiled Roberts, "and you know I don't. I'm not fool enough to fancy I'm a charmer. The explanation, I believe, is in my ancestry. I think they must have been fishes too, and instinct warns me to avoid bait. It's my own peace of mind I'm considering and preserving, friend Armstrong."

"Peace of mind!" the other laughed. "From you that's good, Darley. But the tape line--"

"Can't you find it?"

"I confess--You think there is a time then, after all, when it pays?"