He was a large, meaty, oily type of man--a kind of ambling, gelatinous formula of the male, with the usual sound commercial instincts of the Jew, but with an errant philosophy which led him to believe first one thing and then another so long as neither interfered definitely with his business.

He was an admirer of Henry George and of so altruistic a programme as that of Robert Owen, and, also, in his way, a social snob.

And yet he had married Susetta Osborn, a Texas girl who was once his bookkeeper.

Mrs.Platow was lithe, amiable, subtle, with an eye always to the main social chance--in other words, a climber.

She was shrewd enough to realize that a knowledge of books and art and current events was essential, and so she "went in" for these things.
It is curious how the temperaments of parents blend and revivify in their children.