Architects -- Fiction; City and town life -- Fiction; Fathers and sons -- Fiction; Love stories; Middle West -- Fiction
Awake early, Bruce donned a freshly-pressed gray suit and went down to
breakfast. His immediate concern was to find employment, for in work,
he knew, lay his hope of happiness and peace. He had thrust into his
pocket letters from architects who had employed him in various cities
commending him as an excellent draughtsman; and he bore a letter
certifying to his good character and trustworthiness from the president
of the bank in his native town. He was not pressed by immediate need.
His travels had been inexpensive; in fact, he had a little more than
earned his way; and he had not only the fifty thousand dollars his
mother had left invested in securities, but he carried drafts for the
accumulated income--something over a thousand dollars--to tide him over
any possible difficulties in finding an opening that promised well for
the future. He had finished his breakfast, and lingered at the table,
deep in thought, when a young man who had just entered the dining-room
paused beside him.
“Is it or is it not Bruce Storrs?” he demanded. “I spotted you from the
door--didn’t think there could be another such head and shoulders.”
“Bud Henderson!”
Storrs was on his feet, wringing the hand of the young man, who was
regarding him with a pleased grin.
“You good old Indian! I was just about to go out and ask the nearest
cop where to find you! You’re the only man in town I know!”
“Thanks for the compliment. You might have warned me of your approach.
I’ll sit right here and eat while you unfold yourself.”
Henderson was short, lean and dark, with a curiously immobile face. His
lips smiled oddly without any accompanying expression of humor in his
rather small brown eyes. Without inquiring what had brought Storrs to
town, he began talking of their years together at Boston, where they
had been fellow students at the Tech. He had a dry, humorous way of
saying things, particularly when he talked of himself, which puzzled
strangers but delighted his friends. He was treating Storrs quite as
though there had been no break in their intercourse.
“Met some of our old Boston pals during the recent unpleasantness and
heard of you occasionally on the other side,” he was saying. “Frankly,
I’m not keen about war”--he was composedly eating a melon--“war is
fatiguing. I hope the great nations will behave for the rest of my
life, so I won’t be annoyed by having to go out and settle the row.”
“Here too, Bud; I got enough. I want to have a try at the arts of
peace.”
“So say we all. By the way, are you married yet?”
“No.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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