Why, I made the eighteen holes in ninety-two only last week." He
laughed again at the answer over the wire, then hung up the
receiver and pushed the telephone aside, as he turned his
attention to the papers neatly arranged on the desk ready to his
hand.

The curiosity of the secretary could not be longer delayed.

"What did they do with the Turner girl?" she inquired in an
elaborately casual manner.

Gilder did not look up from the heap of papers, but answered
rather harshly, while once again his expression grew forbidding.

"I don't know--I couldn't wait," he said. He made a petulant
gesture as he went on: "I don't see why Judge Lawlor bothered me
about the matter. He is the one to impose sentence, not I. I am
hours behind with my work now."

For a few minutes he gave himself up to the routine of business,
distributing the correspondence and other various papers for the
action of subordinates, and speaking his orders occasionally to
the attentive secretary with a quickness and precision that
proclaimed the capable executive. The observer would have
realized at once that here was a man obviously fitted to the
control of large affairs. The ability that marches inevitably to
success showed unmistakably in the face and form, and in the
fashion of speech. Edward Gilder was a big man physically,
plainly the possessor of that abundant vital energy which is a
prime requisite for achievement in the ordering of modern