He delayed not long with these,
but turned to the index where the names of the five hundred Most
Prominent Citizens and Families in the History of the City were
arranged in alphabetical order, and ran his finger down the column of
A's:
Abbett
Abbott
Abrams
Adam
Adams
Adler
Akers
Albertsmeyer
Alexander
Allen
Ambrose
Ambuhl
Anderson
Andrews
Appenbasch
Archer
Arszman
Ashcraft
Austin
Avey
George's eyes remained for some time fixed on the thin space between
the names "Allen" and "Ambrose." Then he closed the book quietly, and
went up to his own room, agreeing with the elevator boy, on the way,
that it was getting to be a mighty nasty wet and windy day outside.
The elevator boy noticed nothing unusual about him and neither did
Fanny, when she came in from church with her hat ruined, an hour
later. And yet something had happened--a thing which, years ago, had
been the eagerest hope of many, many good citizens of the town. They
had thought of it, longed for it, hoping acutely that they might live
to see the day when it would come to pass.
Pages:
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475