Vancouver?" he
inquired, after a short pause.
"That is just the question, or rather, perhaps, I should say the
difficulty. We do not expect to begin work for a year or so."
"And surely that makes no difference, then, at all," returned Patrick.
"For the longer the time, the easier it will be for me to accommodate
you."
"Ah--but you see, Mr. Ballymolloy, it may be that in a year's time these
new-fangled ideas about free trade may be law, and it may be much cheaper
for us to get our rails from England, as Mr. Vanderbilt did three or four
years ago, when he was in such a hurry, you remember."
"And, indeed, I remember it very well, Mr. Vancouver."
"Just so. Now you see, Mr. Ballymolloy, I am speaking to you entirely as a
friend, though I hope I may before long bring about an official agreement.
But you see the difficulty of making a contract a year ahead, when a party
of Democratic senators and Congressmen may by that time have upset the
duty on steel rails, don't you?"
"And indeed, I see it as plain as day, Mr.
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