“You could not expect me to succeed where you have failed,” Allott remarked, and touched Thirlwell as Mrs. Allott and Evelyn went away.  “Shall we go upstairs for a smoke?”

A lift took them up, and Allott lighted a cigarette when they entered an unoccupied room.  The evening was hot, and Thirlwell sat on the ledge of the open window and looked out upon the river across the climbing town.  Church spires, the steep roofs of old houses, and the flat tops of modern blocks, rose in the moonlight through a thin gray haze of smoke.  Lower down, a track of glittering silver ran across to the shadowy Levis ridge, along the crest of which were scattered twinkling lights.  Presently Allott, who was well preserved and rather fat, turned to Thirlwell.

“I hope you won’t be rash, Jim, and throw away the best chance you may ever get.”

“You mean Sir James’s offer of the post with the big engineering firm?”

“I mean that and other things,” said Allott dryly.  “Perhaps I have spoken plainly enough; you are not a fool!”

“Thanks!  I don’t claim much wisdom and I am sometimes rash.  But perhaps we had better stick to Sir James’s offer.  Why does he make it now, after standing off when I needed help some years since?”

“We’ll take the offer first,” Allott agreed.  “Sir James had not been knighted and pulled off the big business combine then.  He hadn’t as much influence, and perhaps wanted to see what you could do.  I expect he was surprised when you got and kept the mining job in Canada.  Anyhow, you’re his namesake and nearest relative.  My wife, you know, comes next.”

“He left my father alone in his trouble,” said Thirlwell grimly.  “I wonder why they gave him his title.  There were things done when the combine was made the shareholders didn’t know, besides injustices to the staffs.  You see, I had friends—­”

“What has that to do with you?  He offers you a good post, with a hint about favors to come.”

“The post is good,” Thirlwell agreed, with a thoughtful look.  “In a way, I’d have been glad to take it; but I can’t very well.”

“Your engagement at the little wild-cat mine is an obstacle?  After all, there are other engineers in Canada; I don’t suppose your employers would suffer much inconvenience if you gave up the job.”

“There’s a year yet to go, besides an understanding that I’d stay until we got down to the deep vein.”

“For very small pay?  Much less than you’re now offered, and with no prospects?”

“My employers are straight people and pay me as much as they can afford.  They treat me well, though they’re a small firm and the mine is not prospering.  In fact, I expect they’ll have some trouble to hold out until we reach good ore.”

“The risk of their not holding out is rather a curious argument for your staying.”

Thirlwell was silent for a few moments, and his face was hard when he resumed:  “I know something about the combine’s methods—­Masters, who’s still with one of the companies Sir James bought up, writes to me.  I suppose one mustn’t be too fastidious, but there are things the man who takes the post I’m offered will be expected to do; things I haven’t done yet and mean to leave alone.  You have often to throw your scruples overboard when you pay big dividends.”