olders, and he was convinced that the prevailing instinct which
controlled their relations to the Consolidated Companies and to its
transactions was self-interest pure and simple. There was no question
that the Companies had accomplished important reductions in the
necessities of life and in the cost of public utilities, as a result of
which the people were radically benefited; but to Allen's untrained mind
even this seemed to be a clever business policy from the exercise of
which the corporation gained more than it gave. Already there had come
to him a sense of apprehension as to what might happen if Mr. Gorham's
restraining hand should lose its present power, and the control should
fall into the hands of men such as he conceived Covington and his
sympathizers to be; and lately the boy had regarded this chance as not
altogether remote.

Gorham never allowed Allen to discuss with him the personalities of any
of the directors or stockholders with whom he came in contact. This was
partly due to his feeling that Allen was not as yet competent to form
opinions of any value, and partly to his general principle that he must
hold his own mind unprejudiced in his duty toward his associates. For
this reason, and for another which lay closer to his heart, the boy had
never expressed to him his distrust of Covington, though he had been
tempted to do so on more than one occasion. Now, however, during the
absence of his chief from the offices, Allen felt sure that a crisis was
near at hand. He knew that Covington was in constant communication with
certain of the directors, and the nature of these conferences could
perhaps be divined by the growing discontent which he saw developing
among those upon whom he knew Gorham depended as his most valued
lieutenants. He had been brooding over matters so long that this new and
tenser situation, as he saw it, made him feel it to be his duty to talk
it over with Gorham. He was none too sure that his doubts would be
shared or even accepted, and this uncertainty added to his
apprehensiveness in breaking over what he knew to be his chief's implied
commands. This was his first experience in a business office, and it
might be that what caused him anxiety was only a part of the day's work,
to be found in any similar establishment. Still, he determined to free
his mind of its ever-present burden, and he selected the time shortly
after Gorham's return from Washington.

Gorham listened to Allen's repor