A Business Career

XXVII

i8o XXVII. The Country Club, where Truscott was engaged to dine on Sunday, was an organization of rather exclusive membership, recruited mostly from among elderly business men of large affairs. Two railroad presidents were numbered among the elect, one of whom, a bachelor of ample means, occupied, during the summer, an apartment in the club house. The dinner to which Truscott wasinvited wasgivenbythis gentleman, whose dinners, even in this temple of good living, were always worthy of attention. The outward and visible shell housing this select company of reputed millionaires, wasa spacious and beautiful structure of stone and brick and wood, located about five miles from the city, and reached by a fine macadamized road connecting with the city pavement at the municipal boundary. The clubhouse stood in a grove, on a high bluff, directly on the south shore of the lake. From the broad verandah running along three sides of the house, the eyecould follow the curve of the shore until it was lost in the distance. Tothe left, the masts of the shipping in the city's harbor could be faintly made out, through the curtain of smoke, more or less dense, according to the wind and weather, from the intervening factories that supplied the members of the Country Club with the money they spent so freely. Artists might criticise, architects might deplore, visitors might gibe at, the inkypall that at times overhung an otherwise fair city; but to the men who frequented the Country Club this canopy sometimes dense, sometimes l8l tenuous, now high in air, now hugging the earth, wasa veritable pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night, to lead these chosen children of fortuneon their journey toward the promised land of pelf and power. Not as many members of the club were to be seen on this particular day as usually drove out on pleasant Sunday afternoons . The clouds, which had threatened rain all the afternoon , had doubtless kept some away. Only a half dozen or so had been bidden to General FarwelTs dinner, and these were received in his own apartments in the second story of the club-house. There were present a couple of bankers, a well-known and popular lawyer, an iron manufacturer, a street railroad magnate , and several other men well known in financial circles. Every man among them had a business to which he gave his attention and from which he derived at least a part of his income. The West isstill intolerant of the idle rich; the gentleman of leisure, pure and simple, the dilettante who dabbles in art or literature as a mere cloak for idleness, has not yet obtained a firm footing in the middle West. The only excuse for a life of leisure, west of New York, is to have acquired means asthe result of abusiness career,and to haveearned, at the approach of old age, the right to retire from active life; while even most of those thus qualified for retirement, retain some nominal tie with activelife, such asthe directorship of a bank or a railroad company. "Truscott, I'm glad to see you," exclaimed the general, when his most youthful guest, and the last to arrive,came in. 182 "We were just talking about you, and what a wonderful run of luck you've had since you succeeded Merwin in the oil business." "Thank you, general; I assure you it wasmere luck." "You're too modest, myboy! I did n't mean at allthat itwas mere luck. I know you've worked hard, and to good advantage . But many a poor devil has worked asdiligently, and used excellent judgment; and just at the critical point in his career, some unforeseen calamity, entirely beyond his control, and beyond reasonable anticipation would come like a thunderclap and knock his prosperity into a cocked hat." "I never saw a more striking illustration of that," said Mr. Dalton, "than the case of your predecessor, Merwin. By the way,that reminds me!The last time I spoke of him wasto Matilda Wedderburn, a month ago, when I met her at your office. I promised to callon her—I reallymust. Amost delightful woman!" "I thought Wendell and Miss Wedderburn would have been running in double harness long ago," chipped in Major Darling, who was the sporting member of the party and owned a famous trotter. Truscott colored slightly. "I guess she's such a high...