"
He might, with equal frankness, have said: "I would smash you." To
his guest his meaning was not obscure. Poundstone studied the pattern
of the rug, and Pennington, watching him sharply, saw that the man
was distressed. Then suddenly one of those brilliant inspirations, or
flashes of rare intuition, which had helped so materially to fashion
Pennington into a captain of industry, came to him. He resolved on a
bold stroke.
"Let's not beat about the bush, Poundstone," he said with the air of
a father patiently striving to induce his child to recant a lie, tell
the truth, and save himself from the parental wrath. "You've been
doing business with Ogilvy; I know it for a fact, and you might as
well admit it."
Poundstone looked up, red and embarrassed. "If I had known--" he
began.
"Certainly, certainly! I realize you acted in perfect good faith.
You're like the majority of people in Sequoia. You're all so crazy
for rail-connection with the outside world that you jump at the first
plan that seems to promise you one. Now, I'm as eager as the others,
but if we are going to have a railroad, I, for one, desire the right
kind of railroad; and the N.C.O. isn't the right kind--that is, not
for the interests I represent. Have you promised Ogilvy a franchise?"
There was no dodging that question.
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