"Bob Elwell wasn't smart enough, that's all; if he had been, he
might have turned round and served Boyne the same way. It's the
kind of thing that happens every day in business. I guess it's
what the scientists call the survival of the fittest," said Mr.
Parvis, evidently pleased with the aptness of his analogy.

Mary felt a physical shrinking from the next question she tried
to frame; it was as though the words on her lips had a taste that
nauseated her.

"But then--you accuse my husband of doing something
dishonorable?"

Mr. Parvis surveyed the question dispassionately. "Oh, no, I
don't. I don't even say it wasn't straight." He glanced up and
down the long lines of books, as if one of them might have
supplied him with the definition he sought. "I don't say it
WASN'T straight, and yet I don't say it WAS straight. It was
business." After all, no definition in his category could be
more comprehensive than that.

Mary sat staring at him with a look of terror. He seemed to her
like the indifferent, implacable emissary of some dark, formless
power.

"But Mr. Elwell's lawyers apparently did not take your view,
since I suppose the suit was withdrawn by their advice."

"Oh, yes, they knew he hadn't a leg to stand on, technically. It
was when they advised him to withdraw the suit that he got