[Gordon Keith by Thomas Nelson Page]@TWC D-Link bookGordon Keith CHAPTER X 18/32
Mrs.Yorke did not believe Mrs.Caldwell really did despise wealth, but she admitted that she made a very good show of doing it. Mrs.Yorke, foreseeing her failure with Norman Wentworth, was fain to accept in his place Ferdy Wickersham, who, though certainly not Norman's equal in some respects, was his superior in others. To be sure, Ferdy was said to be a somewhat reckless young fellow, and Mr.Yorke did not fancy him; but Mrs.Yorke argued, "Boys will be boys, and you know, Mr.Yorke, you have told me you were none too good yourself." On this, Dennis Yorke growled that a man was "a fool ever to tell his wife anything of the kind, and that, at least, he never was in that young Wickersham's class." All of which Mrs.Yorke put aside, and sacrificed herself unstintedly to achieve success for her daughter and compel her to forget the little episode of the young Southern schoolmaster, with his tragic air. Ah, the dreams of the climbers! How silly they are! Golden clouds at the top, and just as they are reached, some little Jack comes along and chops down the beanstalk, clouds and all. So, Mrs.Yorke dreamed, and, a trifle anxious over Alice's persistent reference to the charms of Spring woods and a Southern climate, after a week or two of driving down-town and eager choosing of hats and wearying fitting of dresses, started off with the girl on the yacht of Mr. Lancaster, a wealthy, dignified, and cultivated friend of her husband's. He had always been fond of Alice, and now got up a yacht-party for her to see the boat-race. * * * * * Keith had thought that the time when he should leave the region where he had been immersed so long would be the happiest hour of his life.
Yet, when the day came, he was conscious of a strange tugging at his heart. These people whom he was leaving, and for whom he had in his heart an opinion very like contempt on account of their ignorance and narrowness, appeared to him a wholly different folk.
There was barely one of them but had been kind to him.
Hard they might appear and petty; but they lived close together, and, break through the crust, one was sure to find a warm heart and often a soft one. He began to understand Dr.Balsam's speech: "I have lived in several kinds of society, and I like the simplest best.
One can get nearer to men here.
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