The import of twenty-five dollars a week! Of being the head of a department employing twenty-five girls! Ofwearing a good suit of clothes again! Sitting at an official desk in a corner commanding a charming river viewand feeling that at last, after almost two months in that menial department below stairs, he was a figure of someconsequence in this enormous institution! And because of his relationship and new dignity, Whiggam, as well asLiggett, hovering about with advice and genial and helpful comments from time to time. And some of themanagers of the other departments including several from the front office--an auditor and an advertising manoccasionally pausing in passing to say hello. And the details of the work sufficiently mastered to permit him tolook about him from time to time, taking an interest in the factory as a whole, its processes and supplies, such aswhere the great volume of linen and cotton came from, how it was cut in an enormous cutting room above thisone, holding hundreds of experienced cutters receiving very high wages; how there was an employment bureaufor recruiting help, a company doctor, a company hospital, a special dining room in the main building, where theofficials of the company were allowed to dine--but no others--and that he, being an accredited department headcould now lunch with those others in that special restaurant if he chose and could afford to. Also he soon learnedthat several miles out from Lycurgus, on the Mohawk, near a hamlet called Van Troup, was an inter-factorycountry club, to which most of the department heads of the various factories about belonged, but, alas, as he alsolearned, Griffiths and Company did not really favor their officials mixing with those of any other company, andfor that reason few of them did. Yet he, being a member of the family, as Liggett once said to him, could probably do as he chose as to that. But he decided, because of the strong warnings of Gilbert, as well as his highblood relations with his family, that he had better remain as aloof as possible. And so smiling and being as genialas possible to all, nevertheless for the most part, and in order to avoid Dillard and others of his ilk, and althoughhe was much more lonely than otherwise he would have been, returning to his room or the public squares of thisand near-by cities on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and even, since he thought this might please his uncle andcousin and so raise him in their esteem, beginning to attend one of the principal Presbyterian churches--theSecond or High Street Church, to which on occasion, as he had already learned, the Griffiths themselves wereaccustomed to resort. Yet without ever coming in contact with them in person, since from June to Septemberthey spent their week-ends at Greenwood Lake, to which most of the society life of this region as yet resorted.

　　In fact the summer life of Lycurgus, in so far as its society was concerned, was very dull. Nothing in particularever eventuated then in the city, although previous to this, in May, there had been various affairs in connectionwith the Griffiths and their friends which Clyde had either read about or saw at a distance--a graduationreception and dance at the Snedeker School, a lawn fete upon the Griffiths' grounds, with a striped marquee tenton one part of the lawn and Chinese lanterns hung in among the trees. Clyde had observed this quite by accidentone evening as he was walking alone about the city. It raised many a curious and eager thought in regard to thisfamily, its high station and his relation to it. But having placed him comfortably in a small official position whichwas not arduous, the Griffiths now proceeded to dismiss him from their minds. He was doing well enough, andthey would see something more of him later, perhaps.

　　And then a little later he read in the Lycurgus Star that there was to be staged on June twentieth the annual intercityautomobile floral parade and contest (Fonda, Gloversville, Amsterdam and Schenectady), which this yearwas to be held in Lycurgus and which was the last local social affair of any consequence, as The Star phrased it,before the annual hegira to the lakes and mountains of those who were able to depart for such places. And thenames of Bella, Bertine and Sondra, to say nothing of Gilbert, were mentioned as contestants or defendants ofthe fair name of Lycurgus. And since this occurred on a Saturday afternoon, Clyde, dressed in his best, yetdecidedly wishing to obscure himself as an ordinary spectator, was able to see once more the girl who had soinfatuated him on sight, obviously breasting a white rose-surfaced stream and guiding her craft with a paddlecovered with yellow daffodils--a floral representation of some Indian legend in connection with the MohawkRiver. With her dark hair filleted Indian fashion with a yellow feather and brown-eyed susans, she was arrestingenough not only to capture a prize, but to recapture Clyde's fancy. How marvelous to be of that world.

　　In the same parade he had seen Gilbert Griffiths accompanied by a very attractive girl chauffeuring one of fourfloats representing the four seasons. And while the one he drove was winter, with this local society girl posed inermine with white roses for snow all about, directly behind came another float, which presented Bella Griffithsas spring, swathed in filmy draperies and crouching beside a waterfall of dark violets. The effect was quitestriking and threw Clyde into a mood in regard to love, youth and romance which was delicious and yet verypainful to him. Perhaps he should have retained Rita, after all.

　　In the meantime he was living on as before, only more spaciously in so far as his own thoughts were concerned.

　　For his first thought after receiving this larger allowance was that he had better leave Mrs. Cuppy's and secure abetter room in some private home which, if less advantageously situated for him, would be in a better street. Ittook him out of all contact with Dillard. And now, since his uncle had promoted him, some representative of hisor Gilbert's might wish to stop by to see him about something. And what would one such think if he found him living in a small room such as he now occupied?

　　Ten days after his salary was raised, therefore, and because of the import of his name, he found it possible toobtain a room in one of the better houses and streets--Jefferson Avenue, which paralleled Wykeagy Avenue, onlya few blocks farther out. It was the home of a widow whose husband had been a mill manager and who let outtwo rooms without board in order to be able to maintain this home, which was above the average for one of suchposition in Lycurgus. And Mrs. Peyton, having long been a resident of the city and knowing much about theGriffiths, recognized not only the name but the resemblance of Clyde to Gilbert. And being intensely interestedby this, as well as his general appearance, she at once offered him an exceptional room for so little as five dollarsa week, which he took at once.

　　In connection with his work at the factory, however, and in spite of the fact that he had made such drasticresolutions in regard to the help who were beneath him, still it was not always possible for him to keep his mindon the mere mechanical routine of the work or off of this company of girls as girls, since at least a few of themwere attractive. For it was summer--late June. And over all the factory, especially around two, three and four inthe afternoon, when the endless repetition of the work seemed to pall on all, a practical indifference not remotefrom languor and in some instances sensuality, seemed to creep over the place. There were so many women andgirls of so many different types and moods. And here they were so remote from men or idle pleasure in any form,all alone with just him, really. Again the air within the place was nearly always heavy and physically relaxing,and through the many open windows that reached from floor to ceiling could be seen the Mohawk swirling andrippling, its banks carpeted with green grass and in places shaded by trees. Always it seemed to hint of pleasureswhich might be found by idling along its shores. And since these workers were employed so mechanically as toleave their minds free to roam from one thought of pleasure to another, they were for the most part thinking ofthemselves always and what they would do, assuming that they were not here chained to this routine.

　　And because their moods were so brisk and passionate, they were often prone to fix on the nearest object. Andsince Clyde was almost always the only male present--and in these days in his best clothes--they were inclined tofix on him. They were, indeed, full of all sorts of fantastic notions in regard to his private relations with theGriffiths and their like, where he lived and how, whom in the way of a girl he might be interested in. And he, inturn, when not too constrained by the memory of what Gilbert Griffiths had said to him, was inclined to think ofthem--certain girls in particular--with thoughts that bordered on the sensual. For, in spite of the wishes of theGriffiths Company, and the discarded Rita or perhaps because of her, he found himself becoming interested inthree different girls here. They were of a pagan and pleasure-loving turn--this trio--and they thought Clyde veryhandsome. Ruza Nikoforitch--a Russian-American girl--big and blonde and animal, with swimming brown eyes,a snub fat nose and chin, was very much drawn to him. Only, such was the manner with which he carried himselfalways, that she scarcely dared to let herself think so. For to her, with his hair so smoothly parted, torsoed in abright-striped shirt, the sleeves of which in this weather were rolled to the elbows, he seemed almost too perfectto be real. She admired his clean, brown polished shoes, his brightly buckled black leather belt, and the loosefour-in-hand tie he wore.

　　Again there was Martha Bordaloue, a stocky, brisk Canadian-French girl of trim, if rotund, figure and ankles,hair of a reddish gold and eyes of greenish blue with puffy pink cheeks and hands that were plump and yet small.

　　Ignorant and pagan, she saw in Clyde some one whom, even for so much as an hour, assuming that he would, shewould welcome--and that most eagerly. At the same time, being feline and savage, she hated all or any who even so much as presumed to attempt to interest him, and despised Ruza for that reason. For as she could see Ruzatried to nudge or lean against Clyde whenever he came sufficiently near. At the same time she herself sought byevery single device known to her--her shirtwaist left open to below the borders of her white breast, her outer skirtlifted trimly above her calves when working, her plump round arms displayed to the shoulders to show him thatphysically at least she was worth his time. And the sly sighs and languorous looks when he was near, whichcaused Ruza to exclaim one day: "That French cat! He should look at her!" And because of Clyde she had anintense desire to strike her.

　　And yet again there was the stocky and yet gay Flora Brandt, a decidedly low class American type of coarse andyet enticing features, black hair, large, swimming and heavily-lashed black eyes, a snub nose and full andsensuous and yet pretty lips, and a vigorous and not ungraceful body, who, from day to day, once he had beenthere a little while, had continued to look at him as if to say--"What! You don't think I'm attractive?" and with alook which said: "How can you continue to ignore me? There are lots of fellows who would be delighted to haveyour chance, I can tell you."And, in connection with these three, the thought came to him after a time that s............