"I understand. It's a man's business."
"Yes," said Dick, with the simple masculine superiority of four and
twenty. "That's enough of a background for life, you see; but I long
since made up my mind that public affairs--affairs that concern the
whole community--are to be my real interest."
"So you're going into politics, Dick?" said the older man slowly.
"Well, not to scramble for office," Percival answered with a flush. "We
fellows have been well-enough taught, haven't we, Ellery? to know that
it is rather an ugly mess--I mean municipal affairs in this country. The
local situation, here in St. Etienne, I have yet to study; and I don't
mean to lose any time in beginning."
Mr. Elton made no reply for a moment, and when he spoke there was an
unpleasant cynicism in his voice that galled Dick's pride.
"The young reformer! Well, I suppose a decent man with a little ability
could do something here, if he knew what he was going to do. It's a good
thing to get on your sea-legs before you try to command a ship."
"Father!" Madeline cried out, unable to contain herself. "Don't you be a
horrid wet blanket!"
The three looked at her to see her face aglow with the lovely feminine
belief in masculinity that also belongs to the early twenties.
"That's all right," said the elder Elton unemotionally. "I wasn't
wet-blanketing--I know things are needed. There's plenty of corruption
wanting to be buried, and most of us are content to hold our noses and
let it lie. Or perhaps we give an exclamation of disgust when it is
served up in the newspapers. Reform if you must, but don't reform all
day and Sundays too; and build your cellars before you begin your
attics."
Then he went on a shade more heartily: "It's a mighty good thing for
some of you young fellows to be going into politics; perhaps that's the
chief work for the next generation. And Norris--what of you?"
Ellery started. It had been a silent evening for him, but his silence
had glowed with interest, not so much in the conversation as in his own
thoughts. Two things had forced themselves home,--the first when he
looked down on that expanse of vivid water, vivid sky, vivid green. Here
a man, even a young man, might waken to all his faculties and make
something of life. He need not plod dully through years, to reach
success only when he is old and tired. The landscape poured like wine
into Ellery Norris' veins.
And now here was the other side. He had watched with fascination the
restfulness of Miss Elton's hands, the one that held her mother's, the
one that lay quietly in her lap. He watched her steady eyes that kept
upon her father and Dick as they talked. He saw her face glow with
sympathy and interest and yet remain calm, as if secure in the goodness
of the world; and he told himself that he was glad this wonderful thing
belonged to Dick. Dick's restlessness would be held in leash, as it
were, by this steadfastness.