"Yes, I believe so. But it's largely a matter of pride with him. He retired because it was necessary for the firm to resign the Guardian, and I doubt whether he would go back unless it could be arranged that the Guardian go back too. Can't you arrange it?"
"Well, hardly—that is, right away," Smith replied. "Present conditions are about the same as when the company left the Osgood agency, but I feel more encouraged, myself, to believe there may be a way around. I'll call on Mr. Osgood to-morrow the first thing I do—no, the second."
"What is the first?—if I may ask."
"To close the agency of our present Boston representatives, Messrs.
Sternberg, Bloom, and McCoy. And now tell me the news about Mr.
Charles Wilkinson, the hero of the Hurd trolley schedule."
"Mr. Wilkinson is about to extend his responsibilities in connection with the Hurd family."
"You don't mean that old John M. Hurd was so impressed that he—?"
"Quite another thing. Undoubtedly Mr. Hurd was impressed with Mr. Wilkinson's talents as an insurance broker, but scarcely to the extent of desiring him for a son-in-law."
"A son-in-law! You mean—"
"That Charlie got a trolley schedule and a fiancée out of the same family."
"Well, well! So Miss Hurd is going to marry Wilkinson! Well, she'll acquire an ingenious and enterprising husband, at any rate. And what does John M. say?"