The Gilded Age by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner

man, but you must now haul him from his grave, and send even your women

to dismember his body?”

Who is this dead man, one of thousands who died yesterday, and will be

dust anon, to protest that science shall not turn his worthless carcass

to some account?

Ruth could have had no such thought, for with a pity in her sweet face,

that for the moment overcame fear and disgust, she reverently replaced

the covering, and went away to her own table, as her companion did to

hers. And there for an hour they worked at their several problems,

without speaking, but not without an awe of the presence there, “the new

one,” and not without an awful sense of life itself, as they heard the

pulsations of the music and the light laughter from the dancing-hall.

When, at length, they went away, and locked the dreadful room behind

them, and came out into the street, where people were passing, they, for

the first time, realized, in the relief they felt, what a nervous strain

they had been under.

CHAPTER XVI.

While Ruth was thus absorbed in her new occupation, and the spring was

wearing away, Philip and his friends were still detained at the Southern

Hotel. The great contractors had concluded their business with the state

and railroad officials and with the lesser contractors, and departed for

the East. But the serious illness of one of the engineers kept Philip

and Henry in the city and occupied in alternate watchings.

Philip wrote to Ruth of the new acquaintance they had made, Col. Sellers,

an enthusiastic and hospitable gentleman, very much interested in the

development of the country, and in their success. They had not had an

opportunity to visit at his place “up in the country” yet, but the

Colonel often dined with them, and in confidence, confided to them his

projects, and seemed to take a great liking to them, especially to his

friend Harry. It was true that he never seemed to have ready money,

but he was engaged in very large operations.

The correspondence was not very brisk between these two young persons,

so differently occupied; for though Philip wrote long letters, he got

brief ones in reply, full of sharp little observations however, such as

one concerning Col. Sellers, namely, that such men dined at their house

every week.

Ruth’s proposed occupation astonished Philip immensely, but while he

argued it and discussed it, he did not dare hint to her his fear that it

would interfere with his most cherished plans. He too sincerely

respected Ruth’s judgment to make any protest, however, and he would have

defended her course against the world.

This enforced waiting at St. Louis was very irksome to Philip. His money

was running away, for one thing, and he longed to get into the field,

and see for himself what chance there was for a fortune or even an

occupation. The contractors had given the young men leave to join the

engineer corps as soon as they could, but otherwise had made no provision

for them, and in fact had left them with only the most indefinite

expectations of something large in the future.

Harry was entirely happy; in his circumstances. He very soon knew

everybody, from the governor of the state down to the waiters at the

hotel. He had the Wall street slang at his tongue’s end; he always

talked like a capitalist, and entered with enthusiasm into all the land

and railway schemes with which the air was thick.

Col. Sellers and Harry talked together by the hour and by the day. Harry

informed his new friend that he was going out with the engineer corps of

the Salt Lick Pacific Extension, but that wasn’t his real business.

“I’m to have, with another party,” said Harry, “a big contract in the

road, as soon as it is let; and, meantime, I’m with the engineers to spy

out the best land and the depot sites.”

“It’s everything,” suggested’ the Colonel, “in knowing where to invest.

I’ve known people throwaway their money because they were too

consequential to take Sellers’ advice. Others, again, have made their

pile on taking it. I’ve looked over the ground; I’ve been studying it