He had
fought his way to fortune with clean hands, winning always his battles
by sheer superiority of brain, never by laxity of principle; no man
could lay to his charge that he had dealt him a foul blow. He had
come, therefore, through that demoralising fight with a clean heart,
his native shrewdness increased a thousand-fold, his native simplicity
unabated. It was this combination of shrewdness and simplicity which
had caused him to send Dorothy, bitter as it had been to part with her,
to Europe to finish her education. His gorge had risen at the
intolerable snobbishness which is corroding the wealthy sections of
American society; he had made up his mind that she had a better chance
of obtaining the necessary social acquirements, while remaining a
gentlewoman, in Europe; and had acted with great success on the
conviction.
After a few days' natural restlessness he found himself developing an
admirable capacity, very rare in millionaires, of being for a while
idle. This agreeable circumstance was the natural effect of the
surroundings in which he found himself; not so much of the place, for
at Monte Carlo pleasure is a somewhat strenuous affair, but of the fact
that his new friends had a trained power of taking life easily.
Pages:
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229