But he wasn't all roses and
gardens, not a bit of it! I never thought to see him so absorbed in such
a subject as the management of a business. But he's full of it--he's
full of it! You can't imagine how it delights me."
He was full of it himself. Though he more than once apologized for
talking of his grandson and his pleasure in the way "the boy" was
throwing himself into the real merits of the problems presented to the
new firm in Eastman, he kept returning to this fascinating subject. It
was not of interest to himself alone, and though Roberta only listened,
Mrs. Stephen led him on, asking questions which he answered with eager
readiness. But all at once he pulled himself up short.
"Dick would be the first person to hush my garrulous old tongue," said
he. "But I feel like father and mother and grandfather all combined, in
the matter of his success. I wouldn't have you think his making good--as
they say in these days--in the world I am used to is my only idea of
success. No, no, he has a world of his own besides. I should like you to
see--there are several things I should like you to see. Last winter Dick
begged from me a portrait of his mother which I had done when he was a
year old; she lived only six months after that.
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