Атлант расправил плечи

           "Iwasstunned,too,whenIlearned—whatIlearned.Ididn’texpectthat.Anythingbutthat."

           "Iamgladtohearit,"saidMouchcautiously."It’saconstructivepieceofinformation.Itmightbeveryvaluableindeed."

           "Valuable—yes,"saidTaggartpleasantly."Whendoyouplantoputthedirectiveintoeffect?"

           "Oh,wehavetomovefast.Wedon’twantanynewsofittoleakout.Iexpectyoualltokeepthismoststrictlyconfidential.I’dsaythatwe’llbereadytospringitontheminacoupleofweeks."

           "Don’tyouthinkthatitwouldbeadvisable—beforeallpricesarefrozen—toadjustthematteroftherailroadrates?Iwasthinkingofaraise.Asmallbutmostessentiallyneededraise."

           "We’lldiscussit,youandI,"saidMouchamiably."Itmightbearranged."Heturnedtotheothers;Boyle’sfacewassagging."Therearemanydetailsstilltobeworkedout,butI’msurethatourprogramwon’tencounteranymajordifficulties."Hewasassumingthetoneandmannerofapublicaddress;hesoundedbriskandalmostcheerful."Roughspotsaretobeexpected.Ifonethingdoesn’twork,we’lltryanother.

           Trial-and-erroristheonlypragmaticruleofaction.We’lljustkeepontrying.Ifanyhardshipscomeup,rememberthatit’sonlytemporary.

           Onlyforthedurationofthenationalemergency.