seek the best interest of mankind, and standing on that I tell you
frankly that I cannot at this time answer your question. Just now I
look no farther than the end of this brutal war. After that is
accomplished it will be time enough for me to decide the ultimate
disposition of my invention. Its secret is now known to no living soul
but myself, and is so simple that it requires no written record to
preserve it, and would die with me. It is the result, it is true, of
many years of hard work, but the finished product I can and often do
carry in my waistcoat pocket.

"Do not misunderstand me," he lifted his hand as the Secretary
endeavoured to break in. "I thoroughly realize the responsibility of
my position and that my great wealth is a sacred trust. Upon the
answer to the question you have just put to me depends the destiny of
the world, whether it is answered by myself at this time or by others
in the future. Exactly what I will do when the time comes I cannot
say, but I will tell you this much, that in reaching a decision I will
call to my assistance men like yourself and abide by whatever course
the majority of them may dictate."

"But, my dear young fellow, that will not do." The Secretary shook his
head. "You are called upon to answer my question right here and now."

He dropped his bland and diplomatic manner as he spoke, and with his
jaw thrust forward showed himself the unyielding autocrat, who, in the
rough and tumble of politics, had ruled his party with a rod of iron.
This man whose wonderful talents and personality had fitted him for
his chosen position of champion of the plain people, and whose great
motive power, against all odds, that had forced him into the first
place in their hearts, was his sincere and honest love of office.