I was angry and carried beyond myself."
"No apology can wipe out that sort of thing."
"I'll do my best to make amends.... You're not looking at all well.
There's a big change in you. Monte Carlo does you no good--the reverse
in fact. Why not see a doctor and get him to prescribe you a tonic and a
quiet place to build up your health in? We'll go there together and
start our married life afresh."
"You've had your say--now let me have mine!" flung out Olive. "When we
married, I was mistaken too. I thought at the time you were a man who
could do things. I judged on your previous career. After we were
married, I found I was utterly misled. It isn't in you to climb to the
top. You've too many sides to your nature. First one thing pulls you one
way, and then another thing pulls you another way. To succeed, a man has
to run in blinkers--straight on without minding the side issues. I
imagined you a hundred per center, and I found you only a ninety per
center. You can't climb to the top--it isn't in you!"
"Climb to where?"
Olive looked around at the vast throne-room of the shipowner, and her
meaning was conveyed in the glance.
"Larssen has that final ten per cent.," admitted Matheson. "But do you
know what it means in plain language?"
"What?"
"Utter unscrupulousness. Utter ruthlessness. Napoleon had that extra ten
per cent. Bismarck had it. You're right when you say I haven't it."
Olive moved irritably in her chair.
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