ng approximating one's ideal of a sound sentence the last
stubborn, maddening clutter of words in a manuscript that has grown from
a pen-scratch on the back of an envelope into a potential book. And Tom
Kirkwood was not without his sense of satisfaction. He had without
litigation straightened the Sycamore Company's financial tangles. Its
physical deficiencies were being remedied and its service brought to
standard. He had never in his life felt so conscious of his powers. He
was out of debt--having paid back two thousand dollars Amzi had loaned
him in the fall, after Phil had raised the red flag of danger in their
affairs. The load was off his back; men spoke to him in the street with
a new cordiality; the "Evening Star," in an excess of emotion following
the taking-over of the First National Bank by Amzi and all the moving
incidents connected with the drama of Main Street's greatest day,--the
"Evening Star" had without the slightest provocation, declared that the
Honorable Thomas Kirkwood was just the man for governor. The Desbrosses
Trust & Guaranty Company had not only paid him handsomely, but was
entrusting him with the rehabilitation of a traction company in Illinois
that was not earning dividends.

He came back to Montgomery to try some cases at the April term of court
and sent his trunk to the Morton House.

"It isn't square, daddy," said Phil, breaking in upon him at his office
on the day of his arrival. "We were to open the house again when you
had finished at Indianapolis. And here you are, not even telling me you
were coming."

The office was dingier and dustier than ever. She abused him for not at
least giving her a chance to clean it against his coming.

"I have to be off again in a week; it didn't seem worth while to put you
to the trouble of opening the house just for that," he replied
evasively. His own affairs again occupied his mind, and the sight of
Phil gave a keen edge to his curiosity as to her life at Amzi's.

"Your new suit is certainly some clothes, and a glimpse of that
four-in-hand makes the world a nobler and better place to live in! If
the Indianapolis boulevards can do that for you, it's too bad I didn't
know it long ago. I have an idea"--and she paused pensively in the act
of dusting a chair--"I'm a good deal worried by the idea that you ought
to be mussed!"

He pleaded mockingly for mercy, calling attention to her inconsistency
in admiring his raiment while at the same time threaten