He seated himself upon a half-broken rail, and lit a cigarette.
"Mannering," he said, "I did not come here to simper cheap philosophies with you like a couple of schoolgirls.

I have a real live errand.

I want to speak to you of great things." Mannering moved a little uneasily.

He had a very shrewd idea as to the nature of that errand.
"Of great things," he repeated slowly.

"Are you in earnest, Borrowdean ?" "Why not ?" "Because," Mannering continued, "I have left the world of great things, as you and I used to regard them, very far behind.