He had come as a boy to his mother wanting to talk of himself and
she had wept at the thought of the childless wife and had told him how to
set about making her happy.
"Well, I will set about it," he thought on the train coming home; "I will
find for her this new interest and make her less dependent upon me. Then I
also will take hold anew and work out for myself a programme for a way of
life."
One afternoon when he came home from the office he found Sue filled indeed
with a new idea. With glowing cheeks she sat beside him through the
evening and talked of the beauties of a life devoted to social service.
"I have been thinking things out," she said, her eyes shining. "We must
not allow ourselves to become sordid. We must keep to the vision. We must
together give the best in our lives and our fortunes to mankind. We must
make ourselves units in the great modern movements for social uplift."
Sam looked at the fire and a chill feeling of doubt ran through him. He
could not see himself as a unit in anything. His mind did not run out
toward the thought of being one of the army of philanthropists or rich
social uplifters he had met talking and explaining in the reading rooms of
clubs.
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