Helène, smiling assent, gratefully relaxed in her seat. She was too happy to speak. She felt at peace with herself and all the world.
“Miss Helène,” Morton broke into her reveries. “Would you be interested to know what happened to me since we parted? You have not inquired?”
“I am more than interested, only I had not the courage to ask. Please tell me.” She placed her hands together supplicatingly.
“May I go further back than one year? I should like to tell you about my earlier life. You may find it entertaining.”
“Nothing would please me more;” her animated eye confirmed her words. Morton sat leaning against the fluted column.
“It seems a long time as I look back, but as a boy, I was, no doubt, as fond of studies and athletics as most boys; but somehow, I never became intimate with my schoolmates. My father’s wealth prevented me, for I was always reminded of it, and I resented it. It was the same at college. Whenever I attempted to embrace a friendship offered me, my father’s position interfered. I don’t believe that the young men of my country are any more devout worshipers of the Golden Calf than those of the rest of the world; but I suppose I was over-sensitive. At all events, I came in time to hate wealth. I put down to that the loneliness of my youth; for I became more and more a solitary. In time this so grew on me that, after my graduation from Harvard, I went abroad—to England and then to Germany. There I devoted myself to literary and scientific studies. Strange to say, the people there were more willing to value me for what I was, and I lived there some of the happiest days of my life. Do I tire you with this autobiography, Miss Helène?”
“Not at all, Mr. Morton. I am greatly interested. Please continue.”
“I returned to Cleveland with the full intention of entering one of my father’s enterprises. I had quite a leaning towards engineering and had acquired considerable knowledge of it. My father approved when I spoke to him, but I could see that he did not believe I was serious. He suspected that I had made the suggestion to please him. I believe now he was right, because I soon grew restless again. I tried travel for one year and was attached to our Embassy in London—but nothing satisfied me. Again I returned to America and assisted my father in some work in the Rocky Mountains; but wanderlust once more seized me and I went to the Soudan. It was on my return from that place that I met and came to know the Count, your father.” Morton paused and locked his hands over his knee; then he continued in a softer voice: “To know him was to reverence him. The few days of companionship I had the privilege to spend with him have had a great influence on me. When I came home I was a changed man. To-day, I am engaged, heart and mind, in the work my father so ably laid out for me. I am a business man; and, strange as it may sound, I am proud of it.”
Helène had listened with the deepest attention and interest showing in her mobile features. When Morton paused, she said simply:
“I do not think it strange, Mr. Morton. Since I have lived in America I have come to look up to the business man—the man of action. I think his is the noblest of occupations. The European attitude to the man of business is both foolish and wrong. Were I a man, I would want to be in business.” Her eyes sparkled and her cheeks glowed.