to obtain more than a passive sort of
happiness in my present occupations. There were so many philanthropists,
I thought. I had even begun to feel that the poor were extremely well
provided for, and that in some respects they were really rather better
off than I was. For despite my studies and my hours with Mr. Chelm, and
the society meetings which I attended, I was conscious at heart of being
lonely. My ideas too had received certain impressions regarding the
people who composed society that were quite foreign to those which had
given me an aversion to it. Since my accession to an enormous fortune my
attention had naturally been directed to the conduct of people situated
similarly to myself. At first I was shocked and made morbid by the whirl
of selfish pleasure and dissipation that seemed to characterize the
lives of this class. But when I came to look a little deeper, I was
surprised to find how many people among the rich whom I had judged to be
simply frivolous and indifferent were in reality earnest workers in the
various fields of philanthropy, science, or art, for the most part
carrying on their investigations unobserved. Among them were a number of
my old acquaintances with whom at the charitable and other gatherings
where we met I had resumed the associations of four years ago; and I was
struck by the serious spirit that now seemed to determine their actions.
It was clear to me that earnest-minded people existed among the very
wealthy no less than among those less fortunately circumstanced; and as
this grew more apparent, I began to catch a glimpse of what my father
had meant in speaking of wealth as the power and possibility of the
world. Was it not essential to leisure; and leisure to refinement and
culture? And where necessity ceased to control action, ought there not
to be a greater chance for excellence and progress?

These growing impressions served to temper the almost morbid tendency of
my thoughts to the extent that I have indicated. We gave a grand ball,
and under the stimulus of the cordial welcome given me I became the
gayest of the gay, and surprised not only my old acquaintances but
myself by the vivacity and desire to please of which I proved capable.
Without undue confidence, I can say that I achieved a triumph, and put
to rout the various uncomplimentary conjectures that the world had
hazarded in regard to me. Society opened its arms to me as a returning
prodigal, and my revulsion of feeling was