BY MEREDITH NICHOLSON
THE HOPE OF HAPPINESS
BEST LAID SCHEMES
THE MAN IN THE STREET
BLACKSHEEP! BLACKSHEEP!
LADY LARKSPUR
THE MADNESS OF MAY
THE VALLEY OF DEMOCRACY
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
THE HOPE OF HAPPINESS
THE
HOPE OF HAPPINESS
BY
MEREDITH NICHOLSON
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
1923
Copyright, 1923, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
Copyright, 1923, by THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE CO.
Printed in the United States of America
Published October, 1923
TO
FRANK SCOTT COREY WICKS
THE HOPE OF HAPPINESS
THE HOPE OF HAPPINESS
CHAPTER ONE
I
Bruce Storrs stood up tall and straight on a prostratesycamore, the sunlight gleaming upon his lithe, vigorousbody, and with a quick, assured lifting of the armsplunged into the cool depths of the river. He rose andswam with long, confident strokes the length of a poolformed by the curving banks and returned to the log,climbing up with the same ease and grace that markedhis swimming. He dashed the water from his eyesand pressed his deeply-tanned hands over his shapelyhead. It was evident that he was the fortunate inheritorof clean blood in a perfectly fashioned body; thathe had used himself well in his twenty-eight years andthat he found satisfaction and pride in his health andstrength. He surveyed the narrow valley throughwhich the river idled and eddied before rushing intothe broader channel beyond—surveyed it with somethingof the air of a discoverer who has found andappropriated to his own uses a new corner of the world.
It was a good place to be at the end of a day thatwas typical of late August in the corn belt, a day ofintense dry heat with faint intimations on the horizonof the approach of autumn. With a contented sigh hesat down on the log, his feet drawn up, his shoulders[2]bent, and aimlessly tore bits of bark from the log andtossed them into the water. Lulled by the lazy ripple,he yielded himself to reverie and his eyes filled withdreams as he stared unseeingly across the stream. Suddenlyhe raised his head resolutely as if his thoughtshad returned to the world of the actual and he hadreached a conclusion of high importance. He plungedagain and now his short, rapid strokes threshed thewater into foam. One might have thought that in theassertion of his physical strength he was testing andr