The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1908-12-09

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M ed the unfinished record
that his race had woven
into the social fabric of the metropolis
was merely an automatic matter for
Selwyn.
His own people had always been
among the makers of that fabric. Into
part of its vast and intricate pattern
they had woven an inconspicuopsly
honorable record-chronicles of births
and deaths and marriages, a plain
memorandum Of plain living and up
right dealing with their fellow men.
Some public service Of modest nature
they had performed, not seeking 1t, not
shirking, accomplishing 1t cleanly when
It was intrusted to them.
His forefathers had been. as a rule.
professional men-physicians and law.
yers. His grandfather died under the
walls Of Chapultepec castle while
twisting a tourniquet for a cursing
dragoon; an uncle remained indefinitely
at Malvern Hill; an only brother at
Montauk Point sickened In the trench
es before Santiago.
His fathers services as division med
tcal officer in Sheridan's cavalry had
been perhaps no more devoted, no more
loyal than the services of thousands
was pension offer, declined. He prac.
ticed until his wife died. then retired
to his country home. from which house
his daughter Nina was married to Aus
tin Gerard.
Mr.. Selwyn, Sr., continued to pay his
taxes on his fathers house in Tenth
str Teet, voted in that district. spent a
month every year with the Gerards
and judiciously enlarged the family
reservation in Greenwood. whittier he
retired in due time.
The first gun off the Florida keys
sent Selwyn's only brother from his
law Office in hot haste to San Antonio.
That same gun interrupted Selwyn's
connection with Neergard & Co.. op-
orators in Long Island real estate, and
a year later the captaincy offered him
in a western volunteer regiment oper.
ating on the island of Leyte completed
the rupture.
And now he was back again, a
chance career ended, with option OF
picking up the severed threads-his
Inheritance at the loom-and of rety.
ing them. warp and weft, and continu-
ing the pattern according to the de.
signs of the tufted, tinted pile yarn
knotted in by his ancestors before
him.
Meanwhile he was looking for two
things-an apartment and a job-the
first energetically combated by his i'm
mediate family.
1t was rather odd-the scarcity OF
Jobs. or course Austin offered him
one. which Selwyn declined at once
enraging his brother-in-law.
''But what do know about the In
4 vestment of trust fundsY' demanded
Selwyn. 'You wouldn't take me If
i were not your wife's brother. an6
that's nepotism."
Austin's harmless fury ragged fol
nearly ten minutes. after which he
cheered up, relighted his cigar and re
sumed his discussion with Selwyn con
cerning the merits of various boys
schools. the victim in prospective being
Billy.
A little later. reverting to the sub
.ject Of his own enforced idleness, Sci
0Rwyn said, "I've been on the point oi
going to see Neergard, but somehow
can't quite bring myself to it-slinkins
into his Office as rank failure in one
profession to ask him If he has any
use for me again"
'Stuft and fancyT growled Gerard
'Tt's all stuff and fancy about your be
ing any kind of failure. If you want
+ to resume with that Dutchman, go tt
him and say so. If you want to invest
anything in his Long Island scheme:
he'll take you in fast enough. He tool
In Gerald and some twenty thousand!'
'Tsn't he very prosperous, Austin"
"Very-on paper. Long Island farm
lands and mortgages on Hampton hen
f coops are not fragrant propositions Il
me. But there's always one more way
of making a living after you counted
em all up on your fingers. If you've
any capital to offer Neergard, he won
shrek for help"
"But isn't suburban property
ION the jump? Yes-both ways. Oh
l suppose that Neergard is all right. 1
he wasn't wouldn't have permitted
Gerald to go into It, Neergard sticks t
his commissions and doesn't back hi
A. fancy in certified checks. ! don't know
exactly how he operates. l only know
that We find nothing in that sort o
thing for our own account. But Fame
Harmon & Co. do. That's their affai
too. It's all a matter Of taste, tel
you"