"Good!" he said again. "But what can I do for you then? What is your
object in calling on me?"
"To make you happier than you are."
"That is indeed very generous. For after all I did not get the
impression that I was the unhappier of us two. And if you would have me
continue to believe in your mental balance, you must give me a more
plausible reason."
"Is it so unlikely that I should increase my own happiness by means of
yours?"
"Aha! Of what kind of happiness are we talking?"
"Of the most desirable, that can alone be attained by straining all our
energies to their utmost capacity, their utmost efficiency."
"Ho capito! - accord! - now for the explanation. What slumbering
qualities in me would you rouse to action?"
"Your qualities as a leader of men. The qualities that I lack."
"And which in yourself then?"
"Those of the thinker. Of the original thinker."
Elkinson glanced at me with a look, sharp, cold and penetrating as a
dissecting-knife. He thought he understood what it was that he had to
deal with.
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