They're envious and jealous of him, father.
They're afraid he'll distance them. And they don't want you to
realize what a useful man he could be--how he could help you if
you helped him--made friends with him-- roused the right kind of
ambition in him.''
``When a man's ambitious,'' observed Hastings, out of the
fullness of his own personal experience, ``it means he's got
something inside him, teasing and nagging at him--something that
won't let him rest, but keeps pushing and pulling--and he's got
to keep fighting, trying to satisfy it--and he can't wait to pick
his ground or his weapons.''
``And Victor Dorn,'' said Jane, to make it clearer to her father
by putting his implied thought into words, ``Victor Dorn is doing
the best he can--fighting on the only ground that offers and with
the only weapons he can lay hands on.''
The old man nodded. ``I never have blamed him-- not really,''
declared he. ``A practical man--a man that's been through
things--he understands how these things are,'' in the tone of a
philosopher. ``Yes, I reckon Victor's doing the best he
can--getting up by the only ladder he's got a chance at.''
``The way to get him off that ladder is to give him another,''
said Jane.
A long silence, the girl letting her father thresh the matter out
in his slow, thorough way. Finally her young impatience
conquered her restraint. ``Well-- what do you think, popsy?''
inquired she.
``That I've got about as smart a gel as there is in Remsen
City,'' replied he.
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