After all, if it gave her happiness and occupation, certainly
she needed both. And his powers of inhibition were strong. For
many years he had walled up the small frictions of his married life
and its disappointments, and outside that wall had built up an
existence of his own, which was the mill.
When he went down-stairs he found that Graham had ordered his own
car and was already in it, drawing on his gloves.
"Have to come back up-town early, dad," he called in explanation,
and drove off, going at the reckless speed he affected.
Clayton rode down alone in the limousine. He had meant to outline
his plans of expansion to Graham, but he had had no intention of
consulting him. In his own department the boy did neither better
nor worse than any other of the dozens of young men in the
organization. If he had shown neither special aptitude for nor
interest in the business, he had at least not signally failed to
show either. Now, paper and pencil in hand, Clayton jotted down
the various details of the new system in their sequence; the building
of a forging plant to make the rough casts for the new Italian shells
out of the steel from the furnaces, the construction of a new spur
to the little railway which bound the old plant together with its
shining steel rails.
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