"I have--I don't want to spend my life in other countries. Little old
New York is good enough for me. I have lots of friends there, and that's
where I'd like to settle down."

"New York is a hard place for a young man to start his career," said
Mrs. Gorham. "You will find there an absolute intolerance for the man in
the making. New York demands the finished product."

"But you don't have to start in New York," Alice added. "You could make
your success in some other city, and then come to New York if you wanted
to."

Allen became unusually thoughtful as the conversation progressed.

"Gee!" he said; "I knew that I wanted to go into business, but I didn't
realize how much there was to think over before doing it."

"But it's worth all the time and thought you can give to it," the girl
said, enthusiastically. "I can't imagine anything grander than to stand
at the threshold of the world ready to enter the battle of life, to
struggle with the obstacles and to conquer them. Think, Allen--just
think of what you have before you, while we girls never get any such
chance at all."

"Yes." Allen hesitated, carried off his feet by the intensity of the
words and the rapt expression of her face. "Yes, I guess it is grand,
though it never struck me just that way before. I say!--" he continued,
after a moment's pause, "you're an enthusiast on this business question,
aren't you?"