th entire success, upon
a family that showed a tendency to increase at an alarming rate.
Tom, needless to say, did not become intellectual. He settled
down--prematurely, I thought--into what is known as a family man,
curiously content with the income he derived from the commission
business and with life in general; and he developed a somewhat critical
view of the tendencies of the civilization by which he was surrounded.
Susan held it also, but she said less about it. In the comfortable but
unpretentious house they rented on Cedar Street we had many discussions,
after the babies had been put to bed and the door of the living-room
closed, in order that our voices might not reach the nursery. Perry
Blackwood, now Tom's brother-in-law, was often there. He, too, had
lapsed into what I thought was an odd conservatism. Old Josiah, his
father, being dead, he occupied himself mainly with looking after
certain family interests, among which was the Boyne Street car line.
Among "business men" he was already getting the reputation of being a
little difficult to deal with. I was often the subject of their banter,
and presently I began to suspect that they regarded my career and
beliefs with some concern. This gave me no uneasiness, though at limes
I lost my temper. I realized their affection for me; but privately
I regarded them as lacking in ambition, in force, in the fighting
qualities necessary for achievement in this modern age. Perhaps,
unconsciously, I pitied them a little.
"How is Judah B. to-day, Hughie?" Tom would inquire. "I hear you've put
him up for the Boyne Club, now that Mr. Watling has got him out of that
libel suit."
"Carter Ives is dead," Perry would add, sarcastically, "let bygones be
bygones."
It was well known that Mr. Tallant, in the early days of his newspaper,
had blackmailed Mr. Ives out of some hundred thousand dollars. And
that this, more than any other act, stood in the way, with certain
recalcitrant gentlemen, of his highest ambition, membership in the
Boyne.
"The trouble with you fellows is that you refuse to deal with conditions
as you find them," I retorted. "We didn't make them, and we can't change
them. Tallant's a factor in the business life of this city, and he has
to be counted with."
Tom would shake his head exasperatingly.
"Why don't you get after Ralph?" I demanded. "He doesn't antagonize
Tallant, either."
"Ralph's hopeless," said Tom. "He was born a pirate, you weren't,
Hugh
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