"
Austin turned redder. "If people or corporations stand in our way and
block progress, of course we threaten. Threaten? Isn't the threat of
punishment the very basis of law and order itself? What are laws for?
And we have laws, too--laws, under the law--"
"Of the State of New Jersey," said Selwyn, laughing. "Don't flare up,
Austin; I'm probably not cut out for a business career, as you
point out--otherwise I would not have consulted you. I know
some laws--including 'The Survival of the Fittest,' and the
'Chain-of-Destruction'; and I have read the poem beginning
"'Big bugs have little bugs to bite 'em.'
"That's all right, too; but speaking of laws, I'm always trying to
formulate one for my particular self-government; and you don't mind, do
you?"
"No," said Gerard, much amused, "I don't mind. Only when you talk
ethics--talk sense at the same time."
"I wish I knew how," he said.
They discussed Neergard's scheme for a little while longer; Austin,
shrewd and cautious, declined any personal part in the financing of the
deal, although he admitted the probability of prospective profits.
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