They went
West and there, so it was said, the positions of the brothers changed.
Samuel's luck turned; he made some fortunate stock deals and became
wealthy. Bailey, however, lost all he had in bad mining ventures and
sank almost to poverty. Both had been dead for years now, but Samuel's
son, Erastus--he much preferred to be called E. Holliday Kendrick--was
a man of consequence in New York, a financier, with offices on Broad
Street and a home on Fifth Avenue. John, the East Wellmouth people had
last heard of as having worked his way through college and law school
and as practicing his profession in the big city.
So much Captain Bangs knew. And John Kendrick told him the rest. The
road to success for a young attorney in New York he had found hard and
discouraging. For two years he had trodden it and scarcely earned enough
to keep himself alive. Now he had decided, or practically decided, to
give up the attempt, select some small town or village and try his luck
there. East Wellmouth was the one village he knew and remembered with
liking. So to East Wellmouth he had come, to, as Captain Obed described
it, "take soundin's and size up the fishin' grounds."
"So there you are, Captain," he said, in conclusion. "That is why I am
here."
The captain nodded reflectively.
"Um--yes," he said. "I see; I see. Well, well; and you're figgerin' on
bein' a lawyer here--in East Wellmouth?"
Mr. Kendrick nodded also. "It may, and probably will be, pretty close
figuring at first," he admitted, "but at least there will be no more
ciphers in the sum than there were in my Manhattan calculations.
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