Meredith Nicholson

“ She was slender, dark, with the blackest of hair brushed straight across from her forehead, her charm lay in her alertness, the impression that she gave of being thoroughly alive. Her smile was a social and business asset; it was one of those smiles that gains value from its way of flashing at you unexpectedly. It was notable that she spoke to more people at a large function than any other girl. ”

“ Our purpose in moving up here was to know the nice people. You don't seem to grasp the idea.”
“Some of those people are customers of mine and perfectly respectable people,” said Olivia. “And there's Jimmy Raymond. I'd be ashamed not to ask Jimmy when we're giving such a big party; he'd feel I had deliberately left him out. Jimmy's poor, of course, but he's very nice and awfully amusing.”
“The poor idiot works, doesn't he?” demanded Busby. “You want to be careful about inviting anybody that works. It isn't respectable to work.” ”

“ Busby,” Erskine replied slowly, “that speaking for all of us, you're the best friend any young man ever had. We're all strong for you, and I'd like to see Jimmy or anybody else persuade us to leave you. That's the way we feel about it.”
“You've said it,” Gaylord affirmed, “We've had a grand good time out here, and we'll stick it out for the rest of our lives if you say the word.”
“Nope; world needs young fellows like you boys; can't hide you on farm. Learned to carry your own weight—big things—appreciate it—proud of you. ”

“ I've always hoped to see you the president of the Busby Trust Company. If you'd done this five years ago when I urged you to do it, and the Fielding Company wanted to take you in, you'd have shared all their prosperity. I hope, Mark, you haven't thrown the business away. Sometimes I think you've let more good chances go by than any other man in the world.”
He had heard this stimulating remark frequently through many years, but he did not sigh now as he usually had.
“Didn't give it away—traded it to Olivia for the farm her Aunt Sarah gave her. Always wanted a farm. ”

“ Best for everybody to work. Practice what I preach; I'll be at the office early in the morning, Olivia.”
MESSRS. WENDELL BUSBY, William Erskine and Thomas Gaylord sat on a fence and watched the summer twilight deepen over a broad stretch of corn. Bronzed, hardened by a long summer of toil, freshened by a dip in the river, they listened to the whispering among the serried battalions with the tranquil satisfaction of men who have contributed their honest part in adding to the wealth of the world. ”

“ Busby, a remark of which Olivia knew herself to be the target.
“We ought to be ashamed of ourselves if we don't,” Olivia agreed. Supper was announced.
BUSBY yielded himself to the comforts and joys of the new home with the nearest approach to enthusiasm his children had ever seen him manifest. He set himself with dogged determination to master golf, and clad in the knickerbockers Wendell had counseled him to purchase, was on the Woodstock links every morning. The transition of the family from Rivington to the new fashionable quarter of the city made something of a splash. ”

“ They have no chance here in Rivington. And some of the girls at Miss Trimble's school they knew best live right around the Cornings. Everybody that is anybody lives up there beyond the creek. It will be like stepping into a new world. They must want a big rental for the place,” she added, pleadingly.
“Yep,” remarked Busby calmly. “I'm paying five thousand dollars cash for twelve months' use of the house as it stands—furniture, garage, three automobiles, everything.” ”

“ Busby. “Fine boy, Jimmy!” Busby ejaculated. “Guess you all know they've made him vice-president of Sedgwick Motors.”
“And I suppose Olivia will turn over the business to him,” said Mrs. Busby spitefully. “This is almost too much, Mark!”
“Wrong again; Olivia's going to incorporate the business and put me in to manage it. Jimmy's got enough to take care of Olivia; with the start he's got, ought to be a rich man in ten years.”
“It's wonderful!” cried Constance. “I've always liked Jimmy.” ”

“ Idleness is bad for young men. Now, Erskine and Gaylord, don't think I'm harder on you than I am on Wendell; all in the same boat; got to bend your backs to the oars to keep from going over dam.”
“I know anything you want me to do will be all right, Father,” said Wendell with a confidence he did not feel.
“JUST finished three bungalows out on my farm,” Busby resumed, “—one for each of you; pick 'em out to suit yourselves. Farm labor hard to get; you three boys young and strong enough to make things hum; two hundred acres; best land in State; got a man out there to show you the ropes ”

“ Busby without comment Wendell's wire from Chicago asking for money.
The home wedding of Portia and Billy Erskine, celebrated in the middle of May, left Mrs. Busby weary but triumphant.
“I'm sure you feel as I do, Mark, a deep satisfaction in seeing the two girls and Wendell settled. There are so many chances of unhappy marriages these days, and we can only hope that we've done the best we can for our children. They will all be home next Sunday. We'll have just a quiet family dinner to talk over the future.” ”

“ Busby, “that you children appreciate what your dear papa is doing for you. If we'd searched the town, we couldn't have picked a place better suited to our needs than the Corning house. We shall have the Bartons on the south and the Erskines on the north. They are rather new, but they've been taken up by the nicest people.”
“I met Billy Erskine at the Ripleys' party; Billy's ever so nice, and a wonderful dancer,” remarked Portia dreamily.
“Billy's all right,” Wendell affirmed. “His father's got a big wad, all right. And the Bartons have scads of money. ”

“ He was little given to gesturing. A small, lean man, he was abstemious of physical exertion of every kind, except that he walked whenever it was possible, his method of locomotion being an absurd jerky impulsion of the body. ”

“ I'm not troubling myself about her.”
“I wouldn't—strong nature; if Olivia ever starts to make a fool marriage, there wont be any heading her off.”
Busby was a changed man, and in nothing was the change so marked as in his refusal to trouble his head with matters of domestic finance. Every month, without the slightest ado, he deposited to the credit of his wife Heloise the sum of four thousand one hundred and sixty-six dollars and sixty-six cents. The ease with which this sum was forthcoming caused Mrs. Busby, Portia, Constance and Wendell to raise their estimate of the family wealth. ”

“ Raymond continued. “He'd be glad to have you, Wendell, go into his office right now; that's coming sooner or later anyhow. And don't think me cheeky, but Sedgwick Motors would be tickled to have one or all of you in jobs you can make as big as you like—”
BUSBY'S arrival terminated the discussion. Mrs. Busby joined the group on the veranda, and the little may intercepted his son and sons-in-law as they went to meet him.
“What are you doing here, Jimmy? Bet you're trying to get my hands away from me. No sooner get a good man than somebody sneaks in and offers more wages. ”

“ You're retiring!”
“Certainly; tired—going to loaf awhile, join the rest of you in a life of leisure.”
Illustration: In the matter of remodeling a hat Olivia was almost uncannily expert.
He did not say it wearily, but rather with a mild jubilation. The news that he had retired from business was even more astounding than the announcement that they were to turn their backs upon Rivington. Mrs. Busby hungered for details. He had conducted, since before their marriage, a real estate and insurance agency on the second floor of an old business block. ”

“ I wish I could establish him in business, but I'm sorry to say that is out of the question.”
“No feeling; suppose the young people love each other; love's supposed to carry 'em through all their troubles.”
“I want Tom to settle down,” continued Gaylord. “I suppose the fact that he plays tennis better than anybody else around here is against him when it comes to finding a job. ”

“ I hope, Busby, you wont feel that I'm trying to dump the job on you, but if you can make a suggestion, I'll appreciate it.”
“Yep—been thinkin' about it. See what the boy has to say for himself first; always give 'em a chance.”
CONSTANCE and Tom Gaylord were the high contracting parties in the first of the series of weddings. The ceremony was pronounced at St. Paul's church, of which Tom's grandfather had been a warden, a fact celebrated by a brass tablet on the wall, close to the Gaylord pew. ”

“ So Olivia' received her mother's monthly check for one hundred and fifty dollars, the amount granted to the other girls and Wendell.
Anyone might have thought that Mark Busby hated money, from his manifestations of annoyance whenever the word or any of its synonyms were used in his presence.
“Mark, dear, I don't like to bother you about these trifles when you're enjoying your rest, but about our contributions to charities and things like that....”
“Do as you please about 'em. You're the boss. Anything you give away comes out of your fifty thousand ”