The diamond drill., 1919-09-20
after all. in spite Of rolling
the devil"


her stalwart. good-looking son at the
hotel where they stayed. and II was
meat and drink to her when she saw
how people stared Mt him In the lobby
and on the big verandas-indeed. her
vanity In him was so dominant that
she was unaware Of their staring at
her with more interest and an ad-
miration friendlier than George
! evoked.
Both Of them felt constantly the diff
ference between this Christmas time
and other Christmas times OF theirs
in all. II was q sorrowful holiday. But
when Isabel came East for Georges
commencement. In June. she brought
Lucy with her-and things began TO
seem different. especially when George
ANDERSON arrived with Lucy's father
on class day. Eugene had been In New
York. on business; Anderson easily
| persuaded him TO this outing; and they
made cheerful party OF II, with the
new graduate of course the hero and
center of IL all.
His uncle was fellow nlumnus.
"Yonder was where / roomed when /
was here" he said. pointing out one OF
the university buildings TO Eugene. II
don't know whether George would let
my admirers place tablet to mark
| the spot, or not. He owns all these
buildings now, you know"
Didn't you. when you were here7
Like uncle, like nephew"
"pm sure didn't have II SO badly
at his age" ANDERSON said refiectively.
as they strolled on through the COM
mencement crowd.
Eugene laughed. ''You need onry
three things TO explain all that's good
and bad about Georgie."
"Three?'
Hes Isabel's only child. He's an
ANDERSON. He's a boy"
''Well. Mister Bones, Of these three
things which are the good ones and
which are the bad onesr'
"All OF Them" said Eugene.
George took no conspicuous part In
either the academic or the social cele-
brations OF his class; he seemed to re-
gard both sets Of exercises with toll
Grant amusement. his own crowd"
mot going In much for either OF those
sorts OF things" as he explained to
Lucy. What his crowd had gone In for
remained ambiguous: some negligent
testimony indicating that, except for
an astonishing reliability which they
all seemed 10 have attained In matters
relating to musical comedy, they had
.Af In. fs.l.
the question one of them put to Lucy,
In response TO investigations OF hers,
seemed to point that way: "Don't you
think" he said. really, don't you
think that being things is rather better
than doing thingsT
He said "rahthuh bettuh" for rather
better" and seemed to do II deliberate
ly, with perfect knowledge OF what he
was doing. Later. Lucy Knocked him
to George. and George refused to
smile: he somewhat inclined to such
pronunciations. himself This inclina-
tion Was one Of the things that he had
acquired In the four years.
What else he had acquired. II might |
have puzzled him to state, had any
body asked him and required direct
reply within a reasonable space OF
time. He had learned how 10 pass ex-
aminations by 'crammlng;" that Is. In
three or four days and nights he could
get into his head enough OF selected
fragment OF some scientific of philo-
sophical or literary or linguistic sub
ject to reply plausibly to six questions
out OF ten. He could retain the infor-
nation necessary for such feat Just
long enough to give successful per-
formance then II would evaporate ut
disturbed. George. like his crowd"
not only preferred "being things" TO
doing things" but had contented him
self with four years OF 'being things"
as a preparation for going on "being
things" And when Lucy rather shyly |
pressed him for his friends probable |
definition OF the "things" II seemed so
superior and beautiful to be. George
raised his eyebrows slightly. meaning
that she should have understood with
out explanation; but he did explain
"Oh. family and all that--being gen.
tleman. ] suppose"
Lucy gave the horizon a long look,
but offered no comment.
Aunt Fanny doesn't look much bet
ter" George said to his mother. few |
minutes after their arrival. on the |
night they got home. Doesn't she get |
over II at alI7 thought she'd feel |
better when we turned over the insur-
ance 10 her-gavc II 10 her absolutely. (;
without any strings to H. Che looks |
about a thousand years oldr'
"She looks quite giriish. sometimes,
though" his mother said
elias she looked that way much |
since father"
"Not so much" Isabel said thought |
fully. "But she win. as time goes on" |