Page:The Story of the House of Cassell (book).djvu/97

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T. D. Galpin

be no doubt that the Shaftesbury always seemed to Petter to set the seal on his career as a teacher of altruism to the masses.

Galpin was less in the public eye. He was at once the foil and the completion of Petter; an excellent man of affairs, assiduous and tactful, and keeping careful watch on finance. But he was generally disposed to follow the line of least resistance and willing to defer to his partners in questions of literature and art. He brought the scent of the sea into La Belle Sauvage, and much of the bonhomie of the sea-companionship. Jovial and affable, he loved his own little joke so much that it could always be seen broadening his face into a smile before it was born in speech. But all through his thirty years at the Yard he displayed most valuable qualities of even judgment and constant common sense. His staff were loyal to him because they knew he would hold the scales justly in any cause of disagreement.

In 1870, the Henry Jeffery to whom allusion has been made, one of the managers at La Belle Sauvage, was taken into partnership, in company with Mr. Robert Turner, who had been first conspicuously successful in the conduct of the New York branch, and subsequently as general manager in London. The firm then became "Cassell, Petter, Galpin and Co." But this was a mere phase of transition. It lasted only till 1883. Then, following the irresistible trend of large business, the firm, in the month of April, converted itself into a limited liability company. Galpin undertook control. Petter retaining a seat on the Board, and Turner remaining as general manager. But a new and notable name was introduced: Mr. H. O. Arnold Forster became secretary of the company. Forster's adoptive father, the Right Hon. W. E. Forster, took the chair at the meeting of the staff held in Exeter Hall (on June 9, 1883) to celebrate the transformation of the business. He had invested in some shares and was pleased to be allowed "to take a seat in the fresh coach," chiefly, as he said with customary candour, because he had

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