In no way was Norman's luck superior to most men's more splendidly than
in that his inborn tendency to arrogant and extravagant desires was
matched by an inborn capacity to get the necessary money. His luxurious
tastes were certainly not moderated by his associations--enormously rich
people who, while they could be stingy enough in some respects, at the
same time could and did fling away fortunes in gratifying selfish
whims--for silly showy houses, for retinues of wasteful servants, for
gewgaws that accentuated the homeliness of their homely women and
coarsened and vulgarized their pretty women--or perhaps for a night's
gambling or entertaining, or for the forced smiles and contemptuous
caresses of some belle of the other world. Norman fortunately cared not
at all for the hugely expensive pomp of the life of the rich; if he had,
he would have hopelessly involved himself, as after all he was not a
money-grubber but a lawyer. But when there appeared anything for which
he did care, he was ready to bid for it like the richest of the rich.

Therefore the investment of a few thousand dollars seemed a small matter
to him. He had many a time tossed away far more for far less. He did not
dole out the sum he had agreed to provide. He paid it into the Jersey
City bank to the credit of the Chemical Research Company and informed
its secretary and treasurer that she could draw freely against it. "If
you will read the by-laws of the company," said he, "you will see that
you've the right to spend exactly as you see fit. When the money runs
low, let me know."

"I'll be very careful," said Dorothea Hallowell, secretary and
treasurer.

"That's precisely what we don't want," replied he. He glanced round the
tiny parlor of the cottage. "We want everything to be run in first-class