Broken to the Plow

vances with an air of tolerant aloofness. In the past, the first moves toward adjusting a misunderstanding had come usually from him. He had an aptitude for kindling the fires of domest

fresh slice of toast … he suffered her favors, but he was unmoved by them. They did not even annoy him. When he kissed her good-by he felt the relaxation of he

season of the year. Like most San Franciscans, he had never flown very far afield, but he was passionate in his belief that his native city "had it on any of them," to use his precise term. And he was resentful to a

d the hills to lush-green life. The bay lay in a sapphire drowse, flecked by idle-winged argosies, unfolding their storm-soaked sails to the caressing sunlight. Soaring high above the placid gulls, a

ric longings … spring sunshine could always prick his blood with sharp-pointed desire. But to-day there was a poignant melancholy in his flair for a wider horizon. He was touched by weariness as well as longing. He was like a pocket hunter whose previous borrowings had beguiled

f the faces he read the potentialities of infinite variety, smothered by a dull mask of conformity. What a relief if but one in that vast flood would go suddenly mad! He tried fantastically to picture the effect upon the others-the momentary cowardice and braveries that such an event would cal

of growing preoccupation … each step was carrying them nearer to the day's pallid slavery, and an unconscious sense of their genteel serfdom seemed gradually to settle on them. There were no

escend from his speculative heights and face the problems of his workday world

ew?" Brauer thr

the world!" es

nto the off

ut of the safe. The old man smiled. He was

new?" he inq

world!" they chime

Brauer took a comb from his pocket and began carefully to de

putting her formidable array of pencils through the shar

arratt!" she purred, arch

nutes he was deeply absorbed in sorting the "daily reports" from the various agencies. He worked steadily, interrupted by an occasional phone call, an order from the chief clerk, the arrival and departure of business associa

hat's new

own lips or the lips of another,

ing in th

s thinking about the course of action that he had decided upon in that long, unusual vigil of the nigh

oing something?…

made that committed him irr

You don't kno

they had escaped him…a fatality which the blazing contempt of his wife's retort ha

can yo

ow. His own self-esteem could n

e private office and see if Mr. Ford is at leisur

. "He says for you to come,"

g himself, walked swiftly in upon his employ

ing up smilingly, "what's the g

ely. "Nothing…except I find it im

that's unfortunate!… Suppose you

ped into the

e was not in the least disturbed. Indeed, he seemed t

root of the trouble… Of course yo

er him. His lip-curling disdain must have communicated itself to Mr. Ford, b

tt, and I know that you have the

Starratt to take his word for anything. He reached for a pencil and pad and he went into a mathematic demonstration to show just how near the edge of financial disaster the firm of Ford, Wetherbee & Co. had been pushed. Starratt could not doubt the figures, and yet his eyes traveled instinctively to the bag of golf sticks in a convenient corner. Somehow, nothing in either Ford's argument or his sleek presence irritated Starratt so much as these golf sticks. For, in this particular instance, they became the symbol of a self-sufficient prosperity whose first moves toward economy

ow, when the laboring element is running amuck, it's good to feel that the country has a large percentage of people who can be reasonable and u

ratt threw

ened briefly. "I think

ou? The hand that

t may work

quite und

a case of one man cutting down on necessities to provide another with luxuries

as one man in my employ whom I counted on, it was you. You've been with me over fifteen years … began as office boy, a

rights, much less a favor. No wonder Hilmer could sneer and Helen Starratt cut him with the fine knife of her scorn! The words began to tumble to his lips. They came in swirling flood. He lost count of what

, but he swept on. "If you were in a real flesh-and-blood business you'd have felt the force of things … you'd have had men with guts to deal with … you'd have had a br

s hand. Starratt o

s to have been destroyed and it goes without saying that my confidence in you has been seriously undermined. We'll give you a good recommend

mmendation is coming to me," he returned, coldly. "The month's

suit yours

ff at Starratt's entrance … signing insurance policies… St

hrough an office with lightninglike rapidity, a hint of St

omething," Starratt heard the chief stenographer sa

im with a bid for lunch, his little ferret eyes att

refuse, but instead he sa

… sure! Let

d to go up to one of the stalls in the Californ

d themselves. "After the first of July they'll sla

th the noonday meal, because anything even mildly alcoholic made him loggy

an oyster order, and Starratt and Brauer fell to. A glass of beer foamed with en

o crime!" he said, with

ability to keep Brauer at arm's length. A subtle change had occurred. Was it possible that a borrowed five-dollar bill could so reshape a relationship? Well, he would pay him back once he received his monthly salary, and get over with the obligation. His monthly salary?… Suddenly it broke over him that he had received the last full month's salary that he would ever get from Ford, Wetherbee & Co. I

e leaving the fir

direct question, although the

announced, dryly, not w

you goin

ps…I don't know … I may b

the mess in his plate

ney," he ventu

months before the premiums begin to come in … a little capital to furnish up a room. I might

. "If you've got a decent office and your own phone and a good stenographer it makes an impression when you're going after bus

e?" escaped Starr

d shrimps to one side. "Take me.

e in upon them

ws. "Well, why not?" was

ed two more

re a secret from Helen. But in the end a boyish eagerness to s

uietly, that night, as she was seating

ch a startled look f

d you hav

ils. He didn't want her to think that any o

hinking of leaving for some time. Working f

e ready to sneer at her husband's inactivity, but now, with the situation a matter of practice rather than theo

to business!" she returned, as she p

n of last night's sco

And wh

ance at him. "That tak

the veil of her intimations and he found a

sed, "I guess we'll st

ways man

avily on the table. "Mo

I sha'n't ask you to do without any more than you've done without so far. I

oing into business isn't only a question of money. There are anxieties and worry … and … and …" She recovered her

silence, and then he told her everythin

t have it that way, but he holds the purse strings, so I've got to make concessions. We can get

do you

come around and talk over insuring that car of his… I don't know that I'll land that. But I mig

uldn't count too much upon Hilmer

anything or anybody,"

the only fis