Peter.
What he will make of himself is another matter."

Peter drew his body back and sent his thoughts out on an investigating
tour. He was wondering what effect the influence of a young man like
Minott would have on a young man like Breen.

The waiters at this point brought in huge trays holding bowls of tobacco
and long white clay pipes, followed by even larger trays bearing coffee
in little cups. Morris waited a moment and then rapped for order.
Instantly a hush fell upon the noisy room; plates and glasses were
pushed back so as to give the men elbow room; pipes were hurriedly
lighted, and each guest turned his chair so as to face the Chief, who
was now on his feet.

As he stood erect, one hand behind his back, the other stretched toward
the table in his appeal for silence, I thought for the hundredth time
how kind his fifty years had been to him; how tightly knit his figure;
how well his clothes became him. A handsome, well-groomed man at all
times and in any costume--but never so handsome or so well groomed as
in evening dress. Everything in his make-up helped: the broad, square
shoulders, arms held close to his side; flat waist; incurving back and
narrow hips. His well-modelled, aristocratic head, too, seemed to gain
increased distinction when it rose clear from a white shirt-front which
served as a kind of marble pedestal for his sculptured head. There
was, moreover, in his every move and look, that quality of transparent
sincerity which always won him friends at sight. "If men's faces are
clocks," Peter always said, "Holker's is fitted with a glass dial. You
can not only see what time it is, but you can see the wheels that move
his heart."

He was about to speak now, his eyes roaming the room waiting for the
last man to be still. No fumbling of glasses or rearranging of napkin,
but erect, with a certain fearless air that was as much a part of his
nature as was his genius. Beginning in a clear, distinct voice which
reached every ear in the room, he told them first how welcome they were.
How great an honor it was for him to have them so close to him--so close
that he could look into all their faces with one glance; not only those
who came from a distance but those of his personal staff, to whom really
the success of the year's work had been due. As for himself, he was, as
they knew, only the lead horse in the team, going ahead to show them
the way, while they did the effective pulling that brought the load to