had descended upon him by the grace of God.



II


There was no physical cowardice in him; and if he would have preferred a
life of ease and splendor, he had no illusions regarding the amount
of "hustling" necessary to carry him to the goal of his desires and
ambitions--unless he made a lucky strike. He played the stock market in a
small way and made a few hundred dollars now and then.

He would have been glad to marry a wealthy girl, Olive Bascom, by
preference, for he had an inner urge to the short cut, but he had found
these spoiled daughters of San Francisco unresponsive...and then, suddenly,
he had fallen in love with Alexina Groome.

His past was green and prophylactic. He was moral both by inheritance
and necessity, and his parents, people of fair intelligence, if rather
ineffective, stern principles, and good old average ideals, had taken their
responsibilities toward their two children very seriously. People who
talked with young Dwight might not find him resourceful in conversation but
they were deeply impressed with his manners and principles. The younger
men, with the exception of Bob Cheever, who respected his capacity for
work, did not take to him; principally, no doubt, he reflected with some
bitterness, because he was not "their sort."

He never admitted to himself that he was a snob, for something deep and
still unfaced in his consciousness, bade him see as little fault in himself