Page:The Story of the House of Cassell (book).djvu/124

 canteen of silver, and to Lady Spurgeon some handsome jewels. Sir Arthur had, he said, saved the House of Cassell from possible disaster by his ability and energy and his power of prompt decision. That was felt by all who heard it to be not the language of exaggeration. The occasion was marked by some delicate compliments to Lady Spurgeon and congratulations on her happy recovery of health after a very trying illness. Sir Arthur referred to these with deep feeling; they had touched, he said, "the tenderest chords of his heart." The company of men of business and letters listened in sympathetic silence to his one allusion to a personal tragedy: "We have passed through anxious times together; the War has not left us unscathed, but, fortified by your kindness and inspired by your generous appreciation, we shall go forth hoping and believing that 'the best is yet to be.'"

Though for the first three years after his appointment as General Manager Sir Arthur Spurgeon was absorbed in the difficult business of reorganization in London, he did not lose sight of the "outposts of the Cassell Empire," and when the pressure was eased a little in 1908 he paid his third visit to America to investigate the position of the Company's affairs in New York and Toronto. He found not only that Cassell was a name to conjure with still, but, judging by the newspaper accounts of his visit, that his own personal fame had preceded him. The peculiarly catholic outlook of a man equally intimate and sympathetic with authors and journalists, publishers and newspaper proprietors, was realized not merely by the keen-eyed Pressmen of the Western continent, but by business people in general, and his counsel was frequently sought on the prospects of new ventures. He paid a further visit in 1910. Two noteworthy incidents marked his journey through Canada. In Toronto he was entertained by the Empire Club, spoke on the Canadian position in literature, and enunciated the theory that the character of a community could generally be judged by its newspapers. With the discriminating eye of an old