"You know—has the largest income of any doctor in the city."
Sommers did not reply. At length the girl ventured once more.
"I hope you will be nice to him."
"There won't be any question of it."
"You can be so stiff, so set; I have counted a great deal on this."
"Politics, politics!" Sommers exclaimed awkwardly. "Who is the man with Mr.
Porter?"
"Railway Gazette Carson? That's what he is called. He swallows
railroads—absorbs 'em. He was a lawyer. They have a house on the North
Side and a picture, a Sargent. But I'll keep the story. Come! you must meet
Mrs. Lindsay."
"Politics, politics!" Sommers murmured to himself, as Miss Hitchcock moved across the room.
CHAPTER IV
At the table there were awkward silences, followed by spasmodic local bursts of talk. Sommers, who sat between Miss Hitchcock and Mrs. Lindsay, fell to listening to his host.
"I was taken for you to-day, Brome," Mr. Hitchcock said, with a touch of humor in his voice.