This was offset by another peculiarity with less
beneficial results: When he had once done a man a service only to
find him ungrateful, no amount of apologies or atonement
thereafter ever moved him to forgiveness. Narrow-gauge men are
sometimes built that way.
It was to be expected, therefore, considering the quality of
Duckworth's champagne and the impression made on Jack by his
uncle's outburst, that the ride down town in the cab was marked by
anything but cheerful conversation between Breen and his nephew,
each of whom sat absorbed in his own reflections. "I didn't mean
to be hard on the boy," ruminated Breen, "but if I had picked up
everybody who wanted to know me, as Jack has done, where would I
be now?" Then, his mind still clouded by the night at the club (he
had not confined himself entirely to champagne), he began, as was
his custom, to concentrate his attention upon the work of the day
--on the way the market would open; on the remittance a belated
customer had promised and about which he had some doubt; the
meeting of the board of directors in the new mining company--"The
Great Mukton Lode," in which he had an interest, and a large one--
etc.
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