The world can't help it--and neither can we, I guess." By this he meant to express his faith in destiny in words suitable to his intelligence, which was unskilled in the presentation of general ideas.

His intelligence was nourished on facts; and Charles Gould, whose imagination had been permanently affected by the one great fact of a silver mine, had no objection to this theory of the world's future.
If it had seemed distasteful for a moment it was because the sudden statement of such vast eventualities dwarfed almost to nothingness the actual matter in hand.

He and his plans and all the mineral wealth of the Occidental Province appeared suddenly robbed of every vestige of magnitude.

The sensation was disagreeable; but Charles Gould was not dull.

Already he felt that he was producing a favourable impression; the consciousness of that flattering fact helped him to a vague smile, which his big interlocutor took for a smile of discreet and admiring assent.
He smiled quietly, too; and immediately Charles Gould, with that mental agility mankind will display in defence of a cherished hope, reflected that the very apparent insignificance of his aim would help him to success.