the supine idiocy of the people that would permit of the prevailing
Dick Turpin methods of high finance, never took his eye from the horizon
of public action, where daily he expected to see "the cloud no bigger
than a man's hand" that was to expand into the storm that would engulf
these and other long permitted public ills.

Many times recently he had sounded the alarm of the dangers attending
recapitalization of properties that already bore a heavy weight of
watered securities, but his colleagues had laughed at what they termed
his fears, and had attempted to reassure him of their complete
possession of the departments of government that controlled such
matters. Bred to the banking business, he had no thought of transferring
his abilities and energies to the realm of statesmanship, but in the
sanctum of his own home he would often pour forth his disgust with, and
his fear of, such methods, to the tall, clear-eyed, clear-brained and
beautiful woman from whom John and Frank Earl were wont to seek advice
in their perplexities. And from her he always received valuable
suggestions, a keener insight into the motives of men, a broader, more
humane view-point, and withal a firmness to set himself, in part, where
the law of the land should have been set wholly, as a barrier against
the worst of these public depredations.

Mr. and Mrs. George Ramsey were the same lovers now that they were
during their honeymoon. In the crowded ballroom, at the opera, in the
automobile after the harassing cares of the day, on land or sea, he was
always the admiring and devoted attendant, and gave expression to his
feelings in a variety of new and interesting ways. It was evident that
they had not run counter to the influence of the stars in waiting for a
natural affinity. In their home they entered into the spirit of whatever
was borne to them by their guests. With scholars and philosophers they
held their own in abstruse and abstract discussions. With musicians and
music lovers they were at ease, for both played and sang with more than
amateur skill. With young people bent on a frolic, they could be the
gayest of the party. Their outlook upon life was always across green
meadows or perfectly kept beds of beautiful flowers.

Every guest found ready sympathy for whatever was nearest and dearest to
him, and went away convinced that he had never rightly understood his
own hobby before.

In this atmosphere, and at table with this couple, John and