He had received the better part of his education at Harvard
College, where, however, he had gained renown rather as a gymnast
and an oarsman than as a gleaner of more dispersed knowledge. Later on
he had learned that the finer intelligence too could vault and pull
and strain- might even, breaking the record, treat itself to rare
exploits. He had thus discovered in himself a sharp eye for the
mystery of mechanics, and had invented an improvement in the
cotton-spinning process which was now largely used and was known by
his name. You might have seen it in the newspapers in connection
with this fruitful contrivance; assurance of which he had given to
Isabel by showing her in the columns of the New York Interviewer an
exhaustive article on the Goodwood patent- an article not prepared
by Miss Stackpole, friendly as she had proved herself to his more
sentimental interests. There were intricate, bristling things he
rejoiced in; he liked to organize, to contend, to administer; he could
make people work his will, believe in him, march before him and
justify him. This was the art, as they said, of managing men- which
rested, in him, further, on a bold though brooding ambition.
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