them, were refreshing. She knew that each was being benefited by coming
in contact with a different nature. Alice's serious side needed the
leaven of a lighter viewpoint on life; Allen's buoyancy was already
being tempered by her ambition. This was why, when Alice asked her
later, in their apartment, "Don't you think Allen needs a little of that
'inspiration' you spoke of?" she had kissed the girl, and answered
without hesitation, "Yes, dear; and you are just the one to give it to
him."

"Then this is my chance to enter business by proxy?" Alice asked again;
and Mrs. Gorham, smiling quietly to herself, had answered, "Perhaps."




IV


After his interview with Senator Kenmore, Gorham walked rapidly down the
slight incline from the Senators' office building to the hotel, where
the clerk passed out to him a handful of letters and telegrams. In the
lobby, unseasonably crowded by the extra session of Congress, he nodded
cordially to three or four men who obviously courted recognition, and
ascended in the elevator to his apartment.

"You don't know Gorham?" queried one of the men, turning to his
friend--"wonderful man, wonderful organizer, head of the great
Consolidated Companies. Thought the Consolidated Companies a myth? Well,
well! That's a great compliment to the man and his methods. You'll know
both well enough before long. But that's characteristic of Gorham--moves