There was a little stir in the room behind. The Haverfords were leaving,
and the Hayden girl, who was plainly finding the party dull. Graham was
looking down at her, a tall, handsome boy, with Natalie's blonde hair
but his father's height and almost insolent good looks.
"Come around to-morrow," she was saying. "About four. There's always a
crowd about five, you know."
Clayton knew, and felt a misgiving. The Hayden house was a late
afternoon loafing and meeting place for the idle sons and daughters of
the rich. Not the conservative old families, who had developed a sense
of the responsibility of wealth, but of the second generation of easily
acquired money. As she went out, with Graham at her elbow, he heard
Chris, at the bridge table.
"Terrible house, the Haydens. Just one step from the Saturday night
carouse in Clay's mill district."
When Graham came back, Mrs. Haverford put her hand on his arm.
"I wish you would come to see us, Graham. Delight so often speaks of
you."
Graham stiffened almost imperceptibly.
"Thanks, I will." But his tone was distant.
"You know she comes out this winter."
"Really?"
"And--you were great friends. I think she misses you a little."
"I wish I thought so!"
Gentle Mrs. Haverford glanced up at him quickly.
"You know she doesn't approve of me."
"Why, Graham!"
"Well, ask her," he said. And there was a real bitterness under the
lightness of his tone. "I'll come, of course, Mrs. Haverford. Thank you
for asking me. I haven't a lot of time. I'm a sort of clerk down at the
mill, you know."
Natalie overheard, and her eyes met Clayton's, with a glance of
malicious triumph. She had been deeply resentful that he had not made
Graham a partner at once. He remembered a conversation they had had a
few months before.
"Why should he have to start at the bottom?" she had protested. "You
have never been quite fair to him, Clay." His boyish diminutive had
stuck to him. "You expect him to know as much about the mill now as you
do, after all these years."
"Not at all. I want him to learn. That's precisely the reason why I'm
not taking him in at once."
"How much salary is he to have?"
"Three thousand a year."
"Three thousand! Why, it will take all of that to buy him a car."