until his growing addiction to drink and later
to drugs had rendered him undependable. But old Bronson certainly did
know the fundamentals and intricacies of the kind of big business which
is straight, and it was a delight to him to pour out his knowledge to a
keen intelligence.

Larry, in his own words, simply "mopped it up." His experience had been
so wide and varied that he now had only to be shown a bone of fact
and almost instantly he visioned in their completeness unextinct
ichthyosauri of business. By day he fairly consumed old Bronson; he read
dry books far into the night. Thus he rapidly filled the holes in the
walls of his knowledge, and strengthened its rather sketchy foundation.
Of course he realized that what he was learning was in a sense academic;
it had to be tested and developed and made flexible by experience; but
then much of it became instantly a living enlargement of the things of
which he was already a master.

Old Bronson was delighted; he had never had so apt a pupil. "In less
than no time you'll be the real head of that house you're with!" he
proudly declared. Larry had not seen it as needful to tell the truth
about himself; his casual story was that he was there putting to use a
month's holiday granted him by a mythical firm in Chicago.

The Duchess's statement that it would be best for him not to seek work
at once was founded on wisdom. Larry was busy and interested, but he
did not yet have to face the constant suspicion and hostility which are
usually the disheartening lot of the ex-convict who asks for a position.
In this period his confidence and his purpose expanded with new
vitality.

As the busy days passed down in the little street, the bantering
fellowship between Larry and Hunt took deeper root. The Duchess did
not again show any of the emotion which had gleamed in her briefly when
Larry had announced his new plan; but bent and silent went like an oddly
revivified mummy about her affairs. And during these days he did not
again see Barney or Old Jimmie; he had learned that on the day following
his conference with them they had gone to Chicago on a very private
matter of business.

He saw Maggie daily, but she maintained the same attitude toward him. He
was now conscious that he was in love. He saw splendid qualities in her,
most of them latent. Maggie had determination, high spirits, cleverness,
courage, and capacity for sympathy and affection; she had head, heart,
and beauty, th