him up. What was the use of talking about such things to him?
He had the sense of property ingrained in him. The last thing he would
be likely to do was to let any altruistic ideas into his head. He would
play safe. Wasn't he a practical man?

She devoted herself to the game. To see her play was a pleasure to the
eye. The long lines and graceful curves of her supple young body never
appeared to better advantage than at golf. Her motions showed the sylvan
freedom of the woods. Ned Merrill appreciated the long, light tread of
her, the harmony of movement as of a perfect young animal, together
with the fine spiritual quality that escaped her personality so
unconsciously.

At the fifteenth hole he continued her education. "This country is
founded upon individualism. It stands for the best chance of development
possible to all its citizens. When you hamper enterprise you stop that
development."

She took him up dryly. "I see. So you and father and Uncle Joe have
developed your individualism at the expense of a million other people's.
You have gobbled up franchises, forests, ore lands, coal mines, and
every other opportunity worth having. As a result you're making them
your slaves and crushing out all individuality."

"Not at all. We're really custodians for the people. We administer these
things for their benefit because we are more fit to do it."

"How do you know you are?"

"The very fact that we have succeeded in getting what we have is
evidence of it."

"All I can see is that our getting it and keeping it--you and I and
Uncle Joe and a thousand like us--is responsible for all the poverty in
the world. We're helping to make it every time we eat a dinner we didn't
work to get."

Alice made a beautiful approach that landed her ball within four feet of
the hole. Presently Merrill joined her.

"That was a dandy shot," he told her, and watched Alice hole out. "I
don't agree with you. For instance, I work as hard as other men."

"But you're not working for the common good."

His impatience reached words. "That sort of talk is nonsense, Alice. I
don't know what has come over you of late."

She smiled provokingly and changed the subject. Why argue with him? The
slant with which they got at things was different. Like her father, he
had the mental rigidity that is death to open-mindedness.

Briskly she returned to small talk. "You're only three up."

Part 4

On their way back to the club house the safe man rec