"
"I have no chip on my shoulder," Thomas refuted eagerly.
"Neither have I."
"But I have," laughed her father. "I eat Englishmen for breakfast;
fe-fo-fum style."
How democratic indeed these kindly, unpretentious people were! thought
Thomas. A multimillionaire as amiable as a clerk; a daughter who would
have graced any court in Europe with her charm and elfin beauty. Up to
a month ago he had held all Americans in tolerant contempt.
It was as Kitty said: the real Englishman and the real American seldom
met.
He did not realize as yet that his position in this house was unique.
In England all great merchants and statesmen and nobles had one or more
private secretaries about. He believed it to be a matter of course
that Americans followed the same custom. He would have been
wonderfully astonished to learn that in all this mighty throbbing city
of millions--people and money--there might be less than a baker's dozen
who occupied simultaneously the positions of private secretary and
friend of the family. Mr. Killigrew had his private secretary, but
this gentleman rarely saw the inside of the Killigrew home; it wasn't
at all necessary that he should.
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