n league against the poor but honest farmer; he was
crippled as much as he was helped by the railroads; but with the trolley
the farmer can be in the deal from the jump. We want every farmer on
this line to have an interest; we're going to give him a chance to go
in. Am I right, Evans?"

Evans warmed to the topic. He was a young broker and wore city clothes
quite as good as Charles's. It was going to be a great thing for the
country people; the possibilities of the trolley line had not yet been
realized. Social and economic conditions were to be revolutionized, and
the world generally would be a very different place when the proposed
line was built. Charles allowed his friends to do most of the talking
and they discussed the project eloquently for an hour.

The men refused Fred's invitation to go indoors, and said they would
walk to the highway and the machine could pick them up.

When the brothers were alone, Charles spoke of the farm.

"I see you've got to work. The whole thing looks better than I ever saw
it. I'm glad you've painted the barn red; there's nothing like red for
a barn. I must make a note of that; all barns should be painted red."

With a gesture he colored all the barns in the world to his taste. Fred
grinned his appreciation of his brother's humor.

"I thought that on Sundays all you young farmers hitched a side-bar
buggy to a colt and gave some pretty girl a good time."

"I'd be doing just that but for two reasons--I haven't the colt or the
side-bar, and I don't know any girls. What about this trolley line? I
thought the field was crowded now."

"Oh, Uncle Will and I are going to put this one through and we're going
to make some money out of it, too. There's money in these things if you
know how to handle 'em. It's in the promotion, not the operating."

"But I heard in town that the Sycamore line isn't doing well. There are
rumors--"

"Oh, I know about that; it's only a fuss among the fellows who are
trying to control it to reorganize and squeeze the bondholders. If
father had lived he'd have kept it level. But we're all out of it--away
out and up the street."

"Glad to hear it," Fred remarked. The gift of easy and picturesque
speech had been denied him. All his life he had heard his father talk in
just this strain; and his Uncle William, while less voluble, was even
more persuasive and convincing. Charles did not always ring true, but
any deficiencies in this respect were compensated for