The money had not come without some bewildered questioning on the part of those supplying it.

As old Sharon said, the Whipple chicken coop had hatched a gosling that wanted to swim in strange waters; but it was eventually decided that goslings were meant to swim and would one way or another find a pond.

Indeed, Harvey Whipple was prouder of his son by adoption than he cared to have known, and listened to him with secret respect, covered with perfunctory business hints.

He felt that Merle was above and beyond him.

The youth, indeed, made him feel that he was a mere country banker.
In the city of New York, after his graduation, Merle had come into his own, forming a staunch alliance with a small circle of intellectuals--intelligentzia, Merle said--consecrated to the cause of American culture.