ordman
for a new office building that was lifting the urban skyline; but the
following day he came rather pointedly to Dan's desk, and with an
embarrassment he rarely showed, said that of course if Dan moved he
should expect to go with him; he hoped Dan had understood that. A few
days later he entrusted Dan with several commissions that he seemed to
have devised solely to show his good will and confidence.

Harwood was happy these days. He was still young and life had dealt
kindly with him. Among lawyers he was pointed to as a coming light of
the bar; and in politics he was the most conspicuous man of his age in
the state. He was invited to Harrison County that fall to deliver an
address at a reunion of the veterans of his father's regiment, and that
had pleased him. He had more than justified the hopes of his parents and
brothers, and they were very proud of him. While they did not understand
his apostasy from the family's stern Republicanism, this did not greatly
matter when Dan's name so often came floating home in the Indianapolis
newspapers. His mother kept careful track of his social enthrallments;
her son was frequently among those present at private and public
dinners; and when the president of Yale visited Indiana, Dan spoke at
the banquet given in his honor by the alumni; and not without emotion
does a woman whose life has been spent on a humble farm find that her
son has won a place among people of distinction in a city which is to
her the capital of the Universe. There were times when Dan wished to be
free of Bassett. He had reached a point where Bassett was not only of
little service to him, but where he felt he was of little use to
Bassett. And it was irksome to find that all the local newspapers,
except the "Courier," constantly identified the Boordman Building with
Bassett's political activities.

Amid all the agitations of the campaign Dan had seen as much as possible
of Sylvia. The settlement of Andrew Kelton's estate gave him an excuse
for consulting her frequently, but he sought her frankly for the
pleasure of seeing her. He found that she was a good deal at Mrs.
Owen's, and it was pleasanter to run in upon her there than at Elizabeth
House, where they must needs share the parlor with other callers. Often
he and Allen met at Mrs. Owen's and debated the questions that were
forever perplexing young Thatcher's eager mind,--debates that Mrs. Owen
suffered to run so far and then terminated with a keen ob