“I shall be sorry,” the mayor added, “to lose from that body one who could contribute to the public service so much exact knowledge and artistic feeling; but I have convinced myself that the conclusions of my investigating committee were correct, notwithstanding your denial and plausible explanation. Consequently, I feel that the interests of good government make this step necessary.”
Brand was a good deal disturbed by this letter. He had coveted the position much and had been deeply gratified when he received the appointment. For the carrying out of certain plans he had in mind would have brought him prominently into the public eye and secured for him much popular esteem and favor, greatly to the benefit, he believed, of his professional reputation and his income. And now suddenly all these hopes withered and died under the touch of this veiled but peremptory demand for him to get down and out; and he feared that if he did not give quick heed he would have to undergo more publicity of the affair and much humiliation. So he sent at once his letter of resignation.
Soon after this episode Henrietta began to notice in his face again the signs of apprehension and to wonder why he sometimes gave a little nervous start and threw a furtive look about the room.
“Aren’t you working too hard, Mr. Brand?” she said to him one day. “You seem to be under such a nervous strain since you began on that capitol building. Don’t you think you ought to take a rest before you really give yourself up to it? I’m afraid you won’t do yourself justice if you go on with the work while you are in this condition.”
He looked at her with his winning, caressing smile of mouth and eyes. “Thank you, Miss Marne. It’s kind of you to be so thoughtful about me. A rest would be pleasant, but I couldn’t leave, just now, I’m afraid. You know Stewart Macfarlane has asked me to design a country house with big grounds on some property he has bought down toward the south end of Staten Island, and I must go over there soon and study the lay of the land and then begin work on that. And I’ve got to have the design for that capitol building ready to submit by a certain date. There are three or four unfinished orders on hand and I’m on the track of another public building that I want to land. So I guess it isn’t rest I need just now, Miss Marne, so much as a straight course of ten-hour working days. If—if I should have to go South again——”
He straightened up with an impatient jerk, the smile faded from his face and his mouth settled in determined lines. “But I’m not going to take that journey again,” he went on impatiently, and then added with decision, “I’ve settled that.”
A few days after this conversation Brand received a letter from the directors of the National Architectural Society suggesting that he resign as president of that body.
“We do not feel,” they said, “that our society can afford to continue in that office a man against whom such serious charges of misconduct have been made and who has not asked for an investigation. We do not wish to have the matter exploited publicly any more than is absolutely necessary. To call a general meeting of the society for its discussion would be sure to result in newspaper notice that would doubtless be as disagreeable to you as it would be offensive to us and injurious to our organization. Accordingly, we have decided that the better plan would be for you quietly to resign.
“If you prefer, a general meeting can be called to consider the matter and the society can then decide whether or not to ask for your resignation. The decision rests with you.”
Brand immediately replied to the letter, complying with its suggestion in dignified phrases that assured the directors of his loyalty to the best interests of the society, although he was keenly sensitive to the injustice that they were doing him.