. I've sent him his quittance papers, and he's your
enemy for all time. You can stand that."

"Yes, so long as you are my friend."

XI

THE WAYS OF GUILFORD DUNCAN

During all this time Guilford Duncan had been taking his meals at the
little boarding house of Mrs. Deming. The other boarders--a dozen in
all, perhaps--did not interest him at first, and for a time he took his
meals in silence, except for courteous "good-mornings" and
"good-evenings." His table companions were mainly young clerks of
various grades, with whose ideas and aspirations young Duncan was very
slightly in sympathy.

After a time, however, he decided that it was his duty to cultivate
acquaintance with these table companions, in whom he recognized private
soldiers in the great army of work--the men upon whom the commanders of
all degrees must rely for the execution of their plans.

Accordingly, Duncan began to take an active part in the conversations
going on about him, and little by little he injected so much of interest
into them that whenever he spoke he was listened to with special
attention. Without assuming superiority of any kind, he came to be
recognized as in fact superior. He came to be a sort of Autocrat of the
Breakfast Table, directing the conversations there into new channels and
better ones.

It was his practice to buy and read all the magazines as they appeared,
including the particularly interesting eclectic periodicals of that
time, in which the best European thought was fairly represented.

His reading furnished him many interesting themes for table talk, and
presently the brightest ones among his companions there began to
question him further concerning the subjects he thus mentioned. After a
little while some of them occasionally borrowed reading matter of him,
by way of still further satisfying their interest in the matters of
which he talked at table.

A little later still, these brighter young men, one by one, began to
visit Duncan's room in the evenings. In the free and easy fashion of
that time and region, he made them welcome without permitting their
coming or going to disturb his own evening occupations in any serious
way. His room was very large, well warmed, and abundantly lighted, for
he had almost a passion for light. There was always a litter of new
magazines, weekly periodicals, and the like on the big table in the
centre of the room, and there were always piles of older ones in the big
closet. St