“That is very true,” said Montague, “and I will meet the persons who are interested and talk out matters with them; and if their plans are such as I can approve, I should be very glad to join with them, and to do everything in my power to make a success of the enterprise.  As you doubtless know, I have five hundred shares of the stock myself, and I should be glad to become a member of the syndicate.”

“That is what I had in mind to propose to you,” said the other.  “I anticipate no difficulty in satisfying you—­the project is largely of my own originating, and my own reputation will be behind it.  The Gotham Trust Company will lend its credit to the enterprise so far as possible.”

Ryder said this with just a trifle of hauteur, and Montague felt that perhaps he had spoken too strenuously.  No one could sit in Ryder’s office and not be impressed by its atmosphere of magnificence; after all, it was here, and its seventy or eighty million dollars of deposits were real, and this serene and aristocratic gentleman was the master of them.  And what reason had Montague for his hesitation, except the gossip of idle and cynical Society people?

Whatever doubts he himself might have, he needed to reflect but a moment to realise that his friends in Mississippi would not share them.  If he went back home with the name of Stanley Ryder and the Gotham Trust Company to back him, he would come as a conqueror with tidings of triumph, and all the old friends of the family would rush to follow his suggestions.

Ryder waited awhile, perhaps to let these reflections sink in.  Finally he continued:  “I presume, Mr. Montague, that you know something about the Mississippi Steel Company.  The steel situation is a peculiar one.  Prices are kept at an altogether artificial level, and there is room for large profits to competitors of the Trust.  But those who go into the business commonly find themselves unexpectedly handicapped.  They cannot get the credit they want; orders overwhelm them in floods, but Wall Street will not put up money to help them.  They find all kinds of powerful interests arrayed against them; there are raids upon their securities in the market, and mysterious rumours begin to circulate.  They find suits brought against them which tend to injure their credit.  And sometimes they will find important papers missing, important witnesses sailing for Europe, and so on.  Then their most efficient employees will be bought up; their very bookkeepers and office-boys will be bribed, and all the secrets of their business passed on to their enemies.  They will find that the railroads do not treat them squarely; cars will be slow in coming, and all kinds of petty annoyances will be practised.  You know what the rebate is, and you can imagine the part which that plays.  In these and a hundred other ways, the path of the independent steel manufacturer is made difficult.  And now, Mr. Montague, this is a project to extend