ng, he
promised the old mansion to make good for his father and for Exham--poor
old Exham, with its lost ideals!

CHAPTER III

THE BROWNSTONE FRONT

"Coyote, eagle, Indian, I have seen countless generations of
them fulfill their destinies and disappear. I wonder when my
turn will come."

MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT.

Jim and his mother did not feel like strangers when they reached New
York. Mrs. Manning knew the city well and Jim, boy-like, was overjoyed
at the idea of being in the great town.

Mr. Dennis' brownstone front was one of the fine old houses on West 23rd
street that are fast making way for stores. It was full of red Brussels
carpets and walnut furniture of crinkly design. It had crayon
enlargements of Mrs. Dennis and the two small Dennises in the parlor and
in the guest room and in Mr. Dennis' room. Jim wondered how Mr. Dennis
could be so genial when he had lost so much.

The third floor had two large rooms opening off a big central room, and
this floor, comfortably furnished, was for the use of Mrs. Manning and
Jim and the maid. Mrs. Manning solved the maid question by sending back
to Exham for Annie Peyton. Annie was about forty. Her mother had been
housekeeper for Mrs. Manning's mother and Annie was the domestic day
worker for the village. Up in Exham English customs still obtained among
the old families. Annie was "Peyton" to Mrs. Manning.

Jim guessed from his own feelings how her position as a servant hurt his
mother. She herself never said anything, but Jim noticed that she made
no friends. Mr. Dennis treated her with a very real courtesy and basked
in her perfect housekeeping.

Jim entered school at once. In his own way, he was a brilliant student.
He had the sort of mind that instinctively grasps fundamental
principles, and this faculty, combined with a certain mental obstinacy
and independence, made him at once the pride and terror of his teachers.
He was a very firm rock on which to depend for exhibition purposes, but
whenever he asked questions they were of a searching variety that made
his teachers long to box his ears.

It was rather a pity that all Jim's spare moments when not in school had
to be spent in janitor service. He missed the companionship of the boys
in the public school which, in America, is an almost indispensable part
of a boy's education. In his adult life he must meet and understand men
and methods of eve