CHAPTER II
WINN HARDY
Winn Hardy, born and reared where the tinkle of the cow bells on thehillside pastures, or the call of the village church bell on Sunday wasthe most exciting incident, and a crossroads schoolhouse the only templeof learning, reached the age of fourteen as utterly untainted byknowledge of the world as the birds that annually visited the old farmorchards. And then came a catastrophe in his life which ended in twofreshly made graves in the village cemetery, and he was thrust into thewhirl of city life, to make his home with a widowed aunt, a Mrs.Converse, who felt it her duty to complete his education by a two years'course at a business college.
It was a scant educational outfit with which to carve his way to fameand fortune, but many a man succeeds who has less, and Winn might havebeen worse off.
He had one unfortunate and serious fact to contend with, however, andthat was a mercurial disposition. When the world and his associatesseemed to smile, he soared amid the rosy clouds of optimism, and whenthings went wrong, he lost his courage.
His first step in wage-earning (a menial position in a store, withscanty pay which scarce sufficed to clothe him) soon convinced him howhard a task earning a livelihood was, and that no one obtained a pennyunless he fought for it. Then through the influence of his aunt, heobtained an easier berth as copy clerk in the office of Weston & Hill,whose business was the investing of other people's money, and while hishours of service were less, his pay was no better. Three years of thisresulted in slow advancement to a junior bookkeeper's desk and betterpay. It also broadened his list of acquaintances, for he joined a club,the membership of which was decidedly mixed, and not all of the bestkind of associates for Winn.
His aunt, a shallow though well-meaning woman, devoted to church work,gossip, and her pet poodle, considering Winn an unfortunate addition toher cares, held but scant influence over him. She furnished him a hometo sleep and eat in without cost, urged him to attend church with her,cautioned him against evil associates; but beyond that she could not anddid not go. So Winn drifted. He saved a little money, realizing that hemust, or be forever helpless and dependent; he learned the slang of thetown and its ways, and forgot for a time the wholesome lessons of hisearly life. He also grew more mercurial, and, worse than that, he grewcynical.
On all sides, and go where he would, the arrogance of wealth seemed tohedge him about and force upon him the realization that he was but apoorly paid bookkeeper, and not likely to become aught else. And then aworse mishap befell him--he met and became attached to Jack Nickerson.
There is in every club, and in every walk in life, wherever a youngman's feet may stray, some one it were better he never met--aMephistopheles in male garb, whose wit and ways of pleasure-taking arealluring, whose manners are perfect, whose pockets are well filled; andalas, whose morals are a matter of convenience.
That Winn, honest and wholesome-minded country-born fellow that he was,should be attracted by this product of fast city life is not strange. Itis the attraction that allures the moth toward the flame, the goodtoward evil. Follow Nickerson in that course, Winn would not and didnot; he merely admired him for his wit, felt half tempted to emulate hisvices, absorbed his scepticism--for Jack Nickerson in addition to hisvices was a cynic of the most implacable sort. With him all religion washypocrisy, all virtue a folly, and all truth a farce. He had incomesufficient to live well upon, gambled for a pastime, was at the racetracks whenever chance offered, was cheek by jowl with the sportingfraternity, a man about town and hail fellow well met with all.
Per contra, he was generous to a fault, laughed most when he uttered hissharpest sneers, was polished and refined in his tastes and a gentlemanalways.
One distinguished novelist has deified such a man, and made him a heroof her numerous tales.
To Winn he appealed more as a fascinating, world-wise sceptic, whoseshafts of satire were gospel truths, and whose Sybarite sort ofexistence was worthy of emulation, if one only had the money to followit.
Then, as if to cap the climax and Winn's cynical education, he fell inlove with Ethel Sherman, a beauty and a natural-born flirt, whose ideasof life and maternal training had convinced her that marriage was amatter of business, and a means by which to obtain position and wealth.
Her family were people of moderate means, living near neighbors toWinn's aunt and attending the same church. She had an elder sister,Grace, who had, in her estimation, wrecked her life by marrying a poorman. And when Winn Hardy, young, handsome and callow, first met her, shewas just home from boarding-school, ready to spread her social wings,and ripe for conquest.
Winn's aunt was also somewhat to blame in the matter, for she, like manygood women, loved to dabble in match-making, and in her simple mindfancied it a wise move to bring one about between Ethel and Winn.
Its results were disastrous to his peace of mind, for, after dancingattendance for a year and spending half he earned on flowers and theatretickets, his suit was laughed at and he was assured that only a richyoung man was eligible to her favor.
Then he went back to Jack Nickerson, and, though he outgrew his folly,his impulsive nature became more pronounced and he a more bitter cynicthan ever. For two years he was but a cipher in business and sociallife, a poorly paid bookkeeper in the office of Weston & Hill, a drop inthe rushing, pushing, strenuous life of the city; and then came achange.
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