I can't see my way clear to helping you, sir; I wish I could.""Then there is nothing more to say, Mr. Lossing," said Armorer, coldly.
"I'm sorry a mere sentiment that has no real foundation should stand in the way of our arranging a deal that would be for the advantage of both the city and our road." He rose.
Harry rose also, but lifted his hand to arrest the financier.
"Pardon me, there is something else; I wouldn't mention it, but I hear you are going to leave to-morrow and go abroad with--Miss Armorer.
I am conscious I haven't introduced myself very favorably, by refusing you a favor when I want to ask the greatest one possible;but I hope, sir, you will not think the less of a man because he is not willing to sacrifice the interests of the people who trust him, to please ANYONE. I--I hope you will not object to my asking Miss Armorer to marry me," concluded Harry, very hot and shaky, and forgetting the beginning of his sentences before he came to the end.
"Does my daughter love you, do I understand, Mr. Lossing?""I don't know, sir. I wish I did."
"Well, Mr. Lossing," said Armorer, wishing that something in the young man's confusion would not remind him of the awful moment when he asked old Forrester for his Jenny, "I am afraid I can do nothing for you.
If you have too nice a conscience to oblige me, I am afraid it will be too nice to let you get on in the world. Good-morning.""Stop a minute," said Harry; "if it is only my ability to get on in the world that is the trouble, I think ------""It is your love for my daughter," said Armorer; "if you don't love her enough to give up a sentimental notion for her, to win her, I don't see but you must lose her, I bid you good-morning, sir.""Not quite yet, sir"--Harry jumped before the door;"you give me the alternative of being what I call dishonorable or losing the woman I love!" He pronounced the last word with a little effort and his lips closed sharply as his teeth shut under them. "Well, I decline the alternative.
I shall try to do my duty and get the wife I want, BOTH.""Well, you give me fair warning, don't you?" said Armorer.
Harry held out his hand, saying, "I am sorry that I detained you.
I didn't mean to be rude." There was something boyish and simple about the action and the tone, and Armorer laughed.
As Harry attended him through the outer office to the door, he complimented the shops.
"Miss Armorer and Mrs. Ellis have promised to give me the pleasure of showing them to them this afternoon," said Harry;"can't I show them and part of our city to you, also?
It has changed a good deal since you left it."The remark threw Armorer off his balance; for a rejected suitor this young man certainly kept an even mind. But he had all the helplessness of the average American with regard to his daughter's amusements.
The humor in the situation took him; and it cannot be denied that he began to have a vivid curiosity about Harry. In less time than it takes to read it, his mind had swung round the circle of these various points of view, and he had blandly accepted Harry's invitation.
But he mopped a warm and furrowed brow, outside, and drew a prodigious sigh as he opened the note-book in his hand and crossed out, "_See L._""That young fellow ain't all conscience," said he, "not by a long shot."He found Mrs. Ellis very apologetic about the Lossing engagement.
It was made through the telephone; Esther had been anxious to have her father meet Lossing; Lossing was to drive them there, and later show Mr. Armorer the town.
"Mr. Lossing is a very clever young man, very," said Armorer, gravely, as he went out to smoke his cigar after luncheon.
He wished he had stayed, however, when he returned to find that a visitor had called, and that this visitor was the mother of the little boy that Harry Lossing had saved from the car.
The two women gave him the accident in full, and were lavish of harrowing detail, including the mother's feelings.
"So you see, 'Raish," urged Mrs. Ellis, timidly, "there is some reason for opposition to the ordinance."Esther's cheeks were red and her eyes shone, but she had not spoken.
Her father put his arm around her waist and kissed her hair.
"And what did you say, Essie," he asked, gently, "to all the criticisms?""I told her I thought you would find some way to protect the children even if the conductors were taken off; you didn't enjoy the slaughter of children any more than anyone else.""I guess we can fix it. Here is your young man."Harry drove a pair of spirited horses. He drove well, and looked both handsome and happy.
"Did you know that lady--the mother of the boy that wasn't run over--was coming to see my sister?" said Armorer, on the way.
"I did," said Harry, "I sent her; I thought she could explain the reason why I shall have to oppose the bill, better than I."Armorer made no reply.
At the shops he kept his eye on the young man. Harry seemed to know most of his workmen, and had a nod or a word for all the older men.
He stopped several moments to talk with one old German who complained of everything, but looked after Harry with a smile, nodding his head.
"That man, Lieders, is our best workman; you can't get any better work in the country," said he. "I want you to see an armoire that he has carved, it is up in our exhibition room."Armorer said, "You seem to get on very well with your working people, Mr. Lossing.""I think we generally get on well with them, and they do well themselves, in these Western towns. For one thing, we haven't much organization to fight, and for another thing, the individual workman has a better chance to rise.
That man Lieders, whom you saw, is worth a good many thousand dollars;my father invested his savings for him."
"You are one of the philanthropists, aren't you, Mr. Lossing, who are trying to elevate the laboring classes?""Not a bit of it, sir. I shall never try to elevate the laboring classes;it is too big a contract. But I try as hard as I know how to have every man who has worked for Harry Lossing the better for it.
