irectly
manifesting any ill-will or indicating his true feelings, but such was
the situation just the same. The things which Summerfield thought he
might do were not easy to do under any circumstances. It was
particularly hard in Eugene's case. The man was beginning to have an
air. People liked him. Advertisers who met him, the big manufacturers,
took note of him. They did not understand him as a trade figure, but
thought he must have real force. One man--a great real estate plunger in
New York, who saw him once in Summerfield's office--spoke to the latter
about him.

"That's a most interesting man you have there, that man Witla," he said,
when they were out to lunch together. "Where does he come from?"

"Oh, the West somewhere!" replied Summerfield evasively. "I don't know.
I've had so many art directors I don't pay much attention to them."

Winfield (ex-Senator Kenyon C. Winfield, of Brooklyn) perceived a slight
undercurrent of opposition and belittling. "He looks like a bright
fellow," he said, intending to drop the subject.

"He is, he is," returned Summerfield; "but like all artists, he's
flighty. They're the most unstable people in the world. You can't depend
upon them. Good for one idea today--worth nothing tomorrow--I have to
handle them like a lot of children. The weather sometimes makes all the
difference in the world."

Winfield fancied this was true. Artists generally were worth nothing in
business. Still, he remembered Eugene pleasantly.

As Summerfield talked here, so was it in the office and elsewhere. He
began to say in the office and out that Eugene was really not doing as
well as he might, and that in all likelihood he would have to drop him.
It was sad; but all directors, even the best of them, had their little
day of ability and usefulness, and then ran to seed. He did not see why
it was that all these directors failed so, but they did. They never
really made good in the company. By this method, his own undiminished
ability was made to stand out free and clear, and Eugene was not able to
appear as important. No one who knew anything about Eugene, however, at
this time believed this; but they did believe--in the office--that he
might lose his position. He was too bright--too much of a leader. They
felt that this condition could not continue in a one-man concern; and
this made the work harder, for it bred disloyalty in certain quarters.
Some of his men were disposed to counsel with the enemy.