"I generally drift back for the holidays. I've been traveling a good deal for the last ten years."
"I see. Some sort of research work?"
The way Noyes used that word "work" made Monte uncomfortable. It was as if he took it for granted that a man who was a man must have a definite occupation.
"I don't know that you would call it exactly that," answered Monte. "I 've just been knocking around. I have n't had anything in particular to do. What are you in?"
"Law. I wonder if you're Harvard?"
"Sure thing. And you?"
Noyes named his class—a class six years later than Monte's.
"Well, we have something in common there, anyhow," said Covington cordially. "My father was Harvard Law School. He practiced in Philadelphia."
"I've always lived in New York. I was born there, and I love it. I like the way it makes you hustle—the challenge to get in and live—"
He stopped abruptly, putting one hand to his eyes.