So
far as Mr. Bassett is concerned, I think that for some reason he had
gone as far with Dan as he cared to. I think he was prepared for the
break."
Mrs. Owen was wiping her spectacles on a piece of chamois skin she kept
in her desk for the purpose, and she concluded this rite with unusual
deliberation.
"How do you figure that out, Sylvia?"
"This must be confidential, Aunt Sally; I have said nothing to Dan about
it; but the night of your party Mr. Bassett was in a curious frame of
mind."
"It seemed to me he was particularly cheerful. I thought Morton had as
good a time as anybody."
"Superficially, yes; but I had a long talk with him--in the hall, after
the dancing had begun. I think in spite of his apparent indifference to
the constant fire of his enemies, it has had an effect on him. He's
hardened--or, if he was always hard, he doesn't care any longer whether
he wears the velvet glove or not. That attack on Mr. Thatcher in the
convention illustrates what I mean. His self-control isn't as complete
as most people seem to think it is; he lets go of himself like a
petulant child. That must be a new development in him. It doesn't chime
with the other things you hear of him as a shrewd, calculating manager,
who strikes his enemies in the dark. He was in an evil humor that night
or he wouldn't have talked to me as he did.
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