"
Two days passed. In the morning of the third I received a
telephone-call from Tevkin, asking to meet me. Impelled by a
desire to impress him with my importance, I invited him to my
place of business. When he came I designedly kept him in my
waiting-room for some minutes before I received him. When he
was finally admitted to my private office he faced me with studied
indifference. He said he had only a minute's time, yet he stayed
nearly an hour. He asked me to come to his house. He spoke
guardedly, giving vague answers to my questions. The best I could
make of his explanation was that his daughter had been prejudiced
against me by the fact that everybody at the Rigi Kulm had looked
upon me as a great matrimonial "catch."
"Mv children have extremely modern ideas," he said. "Topsy-turvy
ones." His face brightened, and he added: "The old rule is,
'Poverty is no disgrace.' Their rule is, 'Wealth is a disgrace.'" And
he flushed and burst into a little laugh of approbation at his own
epigram
"I suppose your daughter regarded me as a parvenu, an upstart, an
ignoramus," I remarked
"No, not at all.
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