What insult did I offer you?"
"You told me that I ought to be ashamed of myself."
"That was not an insult, Mr. Daunt. I intended it to be merely a frank
expression of opinion. Just a moment, please!" he urged, breaking in on
violent language. He brought his thumb and forefinger together to make a
circle and poised his hand over his head. "I don't wear one of these. I
have no right to wear one. Halo, I mean! I'm no prig or preacher--at
least, I don't mean to be. But when I talk business I intend to talk it
straight and use few words--and those words may sound rather blunt,
sometimes. Just a moment, I say!"
He leaned over the table and struck a resounding blow on it with his
knuckles. "This is a nutshell proposition and we'll keep it in small
compass. You gave me a layout of your proposed stock issue. No matter what
has been done by the best of big financiers, no matter what is being done
or what is proposed to be done, in this particular case your consolidation
means that you've got to mulct the people to pay unreasonably high charges
on stock. It isn't a square deal. My property was developed on real money.
I know what it pays and ought to pay. I won't put it into a scheme that
will oblige every consumer of electricity to help pay dividends on
imaginary money.
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