not sufficiently "genteel" for him. He caught at the saving suggestion.
Doubtless that was the trouble. It was the blatancy of the business, not
any evil quality inherent in it, which had offended him. Kindest and
gentlest of men and best of fathers as Dr. Surtaine was, he was not a
paragon of good taste; and his business naturally reflected his
personality. Even this was further than Hal had ever gone before in
critical judgment. But he seized upon the theory as a defense against
further thought, and, having satisfied his self-questionings with this
sop, he let his mind revert to his trip through the factory. It paused
on the correspondence room and its attractive forewoman.

"She seemed a practical little thing," he reflected. "I'll talk to her
again and get her point of view." And then he wondered, rather amusedly,
how much of this self-suggestion arose from a desire for information,
and how much was inspired by a memory of her haunting, hungry eyes.

On the following morning he kept away from the factory, lunched at the
Huron Club with William Douglas, Elias M. Pierce, who had found time to
be present, and several prominent citizens whom he thought quite dully
similar to each other; and afterward walked to the Certina Building to
keep an appointment with its official head.

"Been feeding with our representative citizens, eh?" his father greeted
him. "Good! Meantime the Old Man grubbed along on a bowl of milk and a
piece of apple pie, at a hurry-up lunch-joint. Good working diet, for
young or old. Besides, it saves time."

"Are you as busy as all that, Dad?"

"Pretty busy this morning, because I've had to save an hour for you out