means to secure his ends: his name stood high in his own country for
commercial integrity; men said: he "played square." He had, maybe, too
keen a contempt for dulness and incompetency in enterprise, and he
loathed red-tape; but this was racial. His mind was as open as his
manners. He was utterly approachable. He was a millionaire, and yet in
his own offices in New York he was as accessible as a President. He
handled things without gloves, and this was not a good thing for any that
came to him with a weak case. He had a penetrating intelligence; and few
men attempted, after their first sophistical statements, to impose upon
him: he sent them away unhappy. He did not like England altogether:
first, because it lacked, as he said, enterprise; and because the
formality, decorum and excessive convention fretted him. He saw that in
many things the old land was backward, and he thought that precious time
was being wasted. Still, he could see that there were things, purely
social, in which the Londoners were at advantage; and he acknowledged
this when he said, concerning Stephen Pride's fond boast, that he was
"talking through his hat."

Lady Lawless smiled, and after a moment rejoined:

"Does it mean that he was mumming, as it were, like a conjurer?"

"Exactly. You are pretty smart, Lady Lawless; for I can see that, from
your stand-point, it isn't always easy to catch the meaning of sayings
like that. But they do hit the case, don't they?"

"They give a good deal of individuality to conversation," was the vague
reply. "What, do you think, is the chief lack in England?"

"Nerve and enterprise. But I'm not going to say you ought to have the