The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Metropolis, by Upton Sinclair

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Title: The Metropolis

Author: Upton Sinclair

Posting Date: March 20, 2009 [EBook #5421]
Release Date: April, 2004
First Posted: July 14, 2002

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE METROPOLIS ***

Produced by Charles Aldarondo. HTML version by Al Haines.

THE METROPOLIS

BY

UPTON SINCLAIR

FIRST PUBLISHED 1908

PRINTED BY OFFSET IN GREAT BRITAIN

CHAPTER I

"Return at ten-thirty," the General said to his chauffeur, and then
they entered the corridor of the hotel.

Montague gazed about him, and found himself trembling just a little
with anticipation. It was not the magnificence of the place. The quiet
uptown hotel would have seemed magnificent to him, fresh as he was from
the country; but, he did not see the marble columns and the gilded
carvings-he was thinking of the men he was to meet. It seemed too much
to crowd into one day-first the vision of the whirling, seething city,
the centre of all his hopes of the future; and then, at night, this
meeting, overwhelming him with the crowded memories of everything that
he held precious in the past.

There were groups of men in faded uniforms standing about in the
corridors. General Prentice bowed here and there as they retired and
took the elevator to the reception-rooms. In the doorway they passed a
stout little man with stubby white moustaches, and the General stopped,
exclaiming, "Hello, Major!" Then he added: "Let me introduce Mr. Allan
Montague. Montague, this is Major Thorne."

A look of sudden interest flashed across the Major's face. "General
Montague's son?" he cried. And then he seized the other's hand in both
of his, exclaiming, "My boy! my boy! I'm glad to see you!"

Now Montague was no boy--he was a man of thirty, and rather sedate in
his appearance and manner; there was enough in his six feet one to have
made two of the round and rubicund little Major. And yet it seemed to
him quite proper that the other should address him so. He was back in
his boyhood to-night--he was a boy whenever anyone mentioned the name
of Major Thorn