In the end he did take it up, and would have made a failure of that, too, if it had not been for Hannah. It was Hannah who made friends for him, sought out prospective clients for him, led social conversation into business channels whenever chance presented itself. She had the boy and girl to think of and plan for. When Hermie objected to this or that luxury for them as being stuff and nonsense Hannah would say, not without a touch of bitterness, “I want them to have every advantage I can give them. I want them to have all the advantages I never had when I was young.”

“They’ll never thank you for it.”

“I don’t want them to.”

Adam and Eve doubtless had the same argument about the bringing up of Cain and Abel. And Adam probably said, after Cain’s