and sane--the real thing! If Mr. Sampson should decide to launch it--he
was still hesitating over the business outlook--Susan was to find a
place on his staff.

Mr. Sampson, Jimmy opined, had the right idea about things in general.
He didn't like Susan's quick stuff in _Whim_; thought it would cheapen
her if she kept at it too long. And Mr. Sampson didn't approve of
Susan's remaining third of Gaul, either--her Greenwich Village friends.
Not much wonder, Jimmy added; Susan had trotted him round to three or
four studios and places, and they were a funny job lot. Too many
foreigners among them for him; they talked too much; and they pawed. But
some nice young people, too. Most of them were young--and not stuck up.
Friendly. Sort of alive--interested in everything--except, maybe, being
respectable. Their jokes, come to think of it, were all about being
respectable--kidding everyday people who weren't up to the latest ideas.
There was a lot of jabber one place about the "Oedipus Complex," for
example, but he didn't connect at all. He had his own idea--surely, not
of the latest--that a lot of the villagers might feel differently when
they began to make good and started their bank accounts. But Susan was
on to them, anyway, far more than they were on to her! She liked them,
though--in spite of Mr. Sampson; didn't fall for their craziest ways or
notions of course, but was keen about their happy-go-lucky side--their
pep! Besides, they weren't all alike, naturally. Take the pick of them,
the ones that did things instead of posing round and dressing the part,
and Jimmy could see they might be there. At least, they were on their
way--like Susan.

This was all very well, so far as it went; but we had felt, Phil and I,
a dumb undercurrent struggling to press upward into speech, and after
dinner before the fire, we did our best to help Jimmy free its course.
Gradually it became apparent; it rather trickled than gushed forth.
Jimmy was bothered, more than bothered; there was something, perhaps
there were several things, on his mind. We did not press him, using
subtler methods, biding our time; and little by little Jimmy oozed
toward the full revelation of an uneasy spirit.

"Did you see Mr. Phar?" Phil asked.

"No," said Jimmy, his forehead knotting darkly; "I guess it's a good
thing I didn't too!"

"Why?"

"Well, that letter I had from Susan--the one I showed you, Mr.
Hunt--mentioned some unpleasantness with Mr. Phar; and all S