When
his patriarchal mind had led him to bully his late wife, it was Mrs.
Porter who had fought her cause. It was Mrs. Porter who openly
expressed her contempt for his money and certain methods of making it.
She was the only person in his immediate sphere over whom he had no
financial hold.
He was a man who liked to be surrounded by dependents, and Mrs. Porter
stoutly declined to be a dependent. She moved about the world, blunt
and self-sufficing, and he hated her as he hated no one else. The
thought that she had now come to grips with him and that he could best
her in open fight was pleasant to him. All his life, except in his
conflicts with her, he had won. He meant to win now.
Bailey's apprehensions amused him. He had a thorough contempt for all
actors, authors, musicians, and artists, whom he classed together in
one group as men who did not count, save in so far as they gave mild
entertainment to the men who, like himself, did count. The idea of
anybody taking them seriously seemed too fantastic to be considered.
Of affection for his children he had little. Bailey was useful in the
office, and Ruth ornamental at home. They satisfied him. He had never
troubled to study their characters. It had never occurred to him to
wonder if they were fond of him. They formed a necessary part of his
household, and beyond that he was not interested in them.
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