mmerfield.

"An able man," he said simply. "He did a great deal for me."

Winfield liked that. He thought Eugene would criticize him. He liked
Eugene's genial manner and intelligent, expressive face. It occurred to
him that when next he wanted to advertise one of his big development
projects, he would go to Eugene or the man who had done the sugar
plantation series of pictures and get him to give him the right idea for
advertising.

Affinity is such a peculiar thing. It draws people so easily, apart from
volition or consciousness. In a few moments Eugene and Winfield, sitting
side by side on the veranda, looking at the greenwood before them, the
long stretch of open sound, dotted with white sails and the dim, distant
shore of Connecticut, were talking of real estate ventures in general,
what land was worth, how speculations of this kind turned out, as a
rule. Winfield was anxious to take Eugene seriously, for he felt drawn
to him and Eugene studied Winfield's pale face, his thin, immaculate
hands, his suit of soft, gray cloth. He looked as able as his public
reputation made him out to be--in fact, he looked better than anything
he had ever done. Eugene had seen Ruritania and The Beeches. They did
not impress him vastly as territorial improvements, but they were
pretty, nevertheless. For middle-class people, they were quite the thing
he thought.

"I should think it would be a pleasure to you to scheme out a new
section," he said to him once. "The idea of a virgin piece of land to be
converted into streets and houses or a village appeals to me immensely.
The idea of laying it out and sketching houses to fit certain positions,
suits my temperament exactly. I wish sometimes I had been born an
architect."

"It is pleasant and if that were all it would be ideal," returned
Winfield. "The thing is more a matter of financing than anything else.
You have to raise money for land and improvements. If you make
exceptional improvements they are expensive. You really can't expect to
get much, if any, of your money back, until all your work is done. Then
you have to wait. If you put up houses you can't rent them, for the
moment you rent them, you can't sell them as new. When you make your
improvements your taxes go up immediately. If you sell a piece of
property to a man or woman who isn't exactly in accord with your scheme,
he or she may put up a house which destroys the value of a whole
neighborhood for you. You can't fix the d