be a reflection
upon his system of management, upon his ability to lead and control,
indeed, upon his personality. But, more than all, it grieved him to feel
that he had lost that sense of comradeship which for forty years he
had been able to preserve with those who toiled with him in a common
enterprise.

A sense of loneliness fell upon him. Like many a man, self-made and
self-sufficing, he craved companionship which his characteristic
qualities of independence and strength seemed to render unnecessary and
undesired. The experience of all leaders of men was his, for the leader
is ever a lonely man.

This morning the reports he had just received convinced him that a
strike with his workers would not long be delayed. "If I only knew what
they really wanted," he bitterly mused. "It cannot be wages. Their wages
are two or three times what they were before the war--shop conditions
are all that could be desired--the Lord knows I have spent enough in
this welfare stuff and all that sort of thing during these hard times.
I have heard of no real grievances. I am sick of it all. I guess I am
growing too old for this sort of thing."

There was a tap at the door and his son appeared, with a cheery
greeting.

"Come in, Jack," said his father, "I believe you are the very man I
want."

"Hello, Dad. You look as if you were in trouble."

"Well," replied his father with a keen look at him, "I think I may
return the compliment."

"Well, yes, but perhaps I should not bother you. You have all you can
carry."

"All I can carry," echoed Maitland, picking up the reports from his
desk and handing them to his son, who glanced over them. "Things are not
going well at the mills. No, you needn't tell me. You know I never ask
you for any confidences about your brother unionists."

"Right you are, Dad. You have always played the game."

"Well, I must confess this is beyond me. Everywhere on the men's faces
I catch that beastly look of distrust and suspicion. I hate to work with
men like that. And very obviously, trouble is brewing, but what it is,
frankly, it is beyond me to know."

"Well, it is hardly a secret any longer," said Jack. "Trouble is coming,
Dad, though what form it shall take I am not in a position to say. Union
discipline is a fierce thing. The rank and file are not taken into
the confidence of the leaders. Policies are decided upon in the secret
councils of the Great Ones and handed down to us to adopt. Of course, it