The Web of Life

modic local bursts of talk. Sommers, who sat between Miss

rome," Mr. Hitchcock said, wit

he apparent absurdi

girls had pretty nearly all gone. I was just about to leave, wh

oss here?'

I; 'what can

, 'and no foolin'. I worked for de

as. He was one of the strikers, or had lost his job before the strike. Some one told him you were in with me, Brome, an

ughed rat

rst sign!" Car

of it before the work

the trade element in the family. His cousin Caspar had Miss Lindsay's attention

und to our office?"

rested on his host

itchcock drawled; "I

ous people to talk with

l I explained I wasn't in the business, had nothing to do with the Pullman works. Then he sat down and looked at the floor. 'I vas fooled.' Well, it seems he did inlaying work

r said sceptically. "You should call the

"were at the Pullman office thi

f their innocence, but P

ate! when we are making

anion. Her handsome, clear face was perplexed; s

xclaimed, in low tones. But

y enough to get homes outside of Pullman had to go first because they didn't p

e was agape with astonishment at the doctor's temerity. Parker Hitchcock shrugged his shoulders and muttered somethin

slight smile creeping across his face. "Some say

the latter replied stiffly. "I haven't lo

hed voice. "The real thing is whether a corporation

d the shiftless

ing to his yo

the matter," Porter ended dogmatically. "The m

f this comfortable circle. Miss Hitchcock was looking into the flowers in front of her, evidently searching for so

tion, is a bad thing." He turned with marked emphasis toward the young doctor. "That's why I wouldn't give a dollar to any begging college-not a dollar to make a lot of discontented, l

t the challenge in this sp

ou do with your

vasively. "Maybe that's why I missed you, B

the girl pressed

over at the yards. It wasn

ave made an undue impression upon Sommers. Miss Hitchcock's efforts to bring him into the conversation failed. As for Mrs. Lindsa

ast, in her low, insistent voice. "You are behaving

ompanion as if she had s

aming with irritation,

on," Sommers

impatience, but she lowered her head

in a flash-to feel an

ed frown, but she waited. The young d

of self-preservation. To do what is expected of one, to succeed, you must tak

l replied coolly, haughtily, raising

ake a great deal of nothing. My r

uestions. I wish men wouldn't talk bus

trust, the lids of her eyes half lowere

ented; "it is hard

hcock was a full generation ahead of the others in her conception of inherited, personal rights. As the dinner dragged on, there occurred no fu

And," she hesitated a moment and then looked frankly at him,

arder for me to talk to him?" Sommers

he pressed her lips together a

e going now-but someti

ginning to feel uncomfortably stranded in the middle of the long room, when Dr. Lindsay crossed to his side. The talk at dinner had not put the distinguished specialist in a sympathetic light, but the younger man

made som

ere is another hospital berth I could have. Head of a small hospita

remarked slowly. "Such a place would

penalty held out, bu

pital work, anyway, for a stea

erked out. "You don't have to fuss with people, wo

And you'll have a wife some day, who will make you take a d

of the hospital and the grind of family practice. There were no night visits, no dreary work with the poor-or only as much as you cared to do,-and it paid well, if you took to it. Sommers re

to talk with this degree of intimacy out of pure charity or vanity. But the great specialist said nothing very definite after all: he let fall, casua

sin took themselves off. The Lindsays went soon after. Sommers, who had

ey will all be disposed of soon, and we can

ork of a little canvas. "I have been thinking of what you said at the

. Sommers had seen her like this a few tim

at I can make you u

ry

ended. All that I could do would be to describe a mood, a passio

er head comp

I know

same reason,"

is: you think the rich ar

alk about the P

" he protested; "I don't

hate the-successful. I

e corrupt and luxu

ne hand negligently towa

hed at the uns

eel like

" he said bluntly. "It isn't this house or that, this

ock looked

t as you can. I never felt that so constantly as I have the last few months. Do you thi

views." Her voice soun

ing, "I thought there were some p

ted, but refused to

ed him in a worse position than before. At the same time he was aware that he regretted it; that "views"

nd. He hesitated a moment, searching for an intelligent word, but fi

felt this blind, raging protest. It was a muddle of impressions: the picture of the poor soul with his clamor for a job; the satisfied, brutal egotism of Brome Porter, who lived as if life were a huge poker game; the overfed, red-cheeked Caspar, whom he remembered to have seen only once before, when the young polo captain was stu

e lean, hungry, seamed face, surmounted by a dirty-gra

stone piles on the boulevard to the cheap flat buildings of a cross street. His way lay through a territory of startling contrasts of wealth and squalor. The public part of it-the street and the sidewalks-was equ

Dr. Lindsay had told the men that "physicians should be especially considerate of women, if for no other reason, because their success in their profession would depend very largely on women." Certainly, if he had to decide to-night, h

llow was coming on. The brute ought not to pull through. But it was too late: a new regime had begun; his little period of sway had passed, leaving as a last proof of his art this hu