The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1941-11-18
uAPTER THREE

m ALL HIS 70 years. Eric
Adams hadn't given one single Sc
rious thought to anyone but him
self. Serious a. his thoughts had
been, they had been concerned only
with his present, and his present
was always subject to abrupt
change. There was something mon
grei about Eric. though It was not
IN his physical self. for he came Of
good stock The Adams family
had lived for four generations In
East Lynbrook and he had been
born. like his father and his grand
father before him. In the once-flns
old house where Win lived now.
There were II years between the
brothers' ages: enough. between
this Disparity and the great differ
encs In their personalities. to make
them utter strangers. Eric couldn't
remember when he had FIRST begun
resenting Wins senior rights Per-
haps It had begun when their faith
er died and Eric was ten and Win
became head of the family. Or per-
haps It was when their mother died
and Win had tried to keep him In q
good prep school with the threat Of
Harvard ahead.
Eric always thought of It - .
threat He had no patience WIN .
classical education. He was intsln-
gent, curious, keen and quick-wit-
ted, and these, he knew, were
enough to get him what he wanted.
His trouble was that he didn't
know what he wanted. He only
knew he had an animal eagerness
about living. that there were al
ways new and exciting things
ahead and he had to be on his way
to get them. Not Wins way; not
for anything In the world would he
work doggedly at a career as Win
worked at the bank. Besides-and
this was the way he thought-the
things, for which men worked
doggedly during the best years of
their life were not things worth
having. He didn't want to be the
president Of q company. He didn't
want to be a famous professional
man. He simply wanted to earn a
livelihood which would support him
IN whatever life appealed to him at
the moment
He sometimes thought he would
Ike to have been a newspaperman.
but . two-week trial had erased
that He might have made a good
flyer. but Win wouldn't give him
the money to study and he couldn't
save enough, or he mdn't care
enough, to 60 1t on his own.
He'd tried a lot of things In the
five years before he wound I'D with
Martin Boswell's theatrical COM
pany at Worburn- East Lynbrook
was too small for him from the
time he was IL. but he waited until
he was II before he left-with
Wins best tennis fannels and
WINS racquet-and found himself
IN New York The air was elixir
to him. his heart pounded as fool
tshly as a stage-struck girls when
he saw the lights Of Broadway for
the first time. And. perhaps, II he
had told Win the things that were
In his adventurous heart that time.
Win would have understood and
things would have been quite diff
ferent for Eric. Win would have
told him he was young roman.
tcist, and perhaps he was then.
But when Halle Singleton met
him he was already a materialist,
However. his character, like his
present, was always subject 10
abrupt change. And he had quail.
ties, for all his selfishness. that he
would not admit himself.
Taking stock Of his virtues. or
his sins for that matter-and these
were mostly sins OF omission-was
not Eric's way. But adding I'D his
chances, his assets and liabilities
was a practical matter with which
he was long familiar.
That was what he was doing the
day that Halle drove up to the hos
pital to get him In her little Eve
year-old roadster.
He'd done q pretty good job with