" Strip a clever knave of all intent or inclination
for knavery, and leave all his other qualities and practices intact
and eager, and you have the makings of a "sure-thing" business man:--a
man who does not cheat others, and who takes precious care that his
every move is sound and forward-looking. Aside from the moral element
involved, the difference between the two is largely a difference in
percentage: say the difference between a thousand per cent profit and
six per cent profit. The element of trying to play a "safe thing"
still remains.
This transformation of character, under the stimulus of hard, steady
work upon a tangled thing which contained the germ of great
constructive possibilities for some one, was what was happening
unconsciously to Larry.
CHAPTER XVI
All this while Maggie, and what he was to do about her, and how do it,
was in Larry's mind. Even this work he was doing for Miss Sherwood, he
was doing also for Maggie in the hope that in some unseen way it might
lead him to her and help lead her to herself. There were difficulties
enough between them, God knew; but of them all two were forever
presenting themselves as foremost: first, he did not dare go openly to
see her; and, second, even if he so dared he did not know where she
was.
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