At lunch the Doctor told Dan that he was going to call upon several
friends that afternoon, and among them mentioned the superintendent of a
famous steel plant in the city. Agreeing to meet at dinner in the evening
they parted, Dan going alone to the convention building. At the door he
paused.
Several ministers, chatting gaily with friends passing in for the opening
of the afternoon session, looked curiously at the stalwart, irresolute
figure standing there alone. Two or three greeted him with a word. All
were sorry for him; for not one but understood the meaning of the
incidents of the morning.
An hour later the superintendent of the great steel works greeted, with
admiring eyes, the big clean-looking fellow and wondered at the look of
sadness on his face.
"I am in the city with my friend, Dr. Oldham," explained Dan. "I expected
to find him here. He told me at lunch that he was coming."
"Oldham in town? Good!" exclaimed the man of affairs. "Of course he would
look me up, but he hasn't been here yet. Glad to meet any friend of the
Doctor's. Sit down, Mr. Matthews; he'll be in presently, no doubt. Or
perhaps while you're waiting, you would care to look about." At Dan's
eager reply he touched a bell and, to the man who appeared, he said,
"Jack, show Mr. Matthews around. A friend of my friend, Dr. Oldham."
And so the Doctor found the boy standing in the very heart of the great
plant, where the brawny workmen, naked to the waist--their bodies shining
with sweat and streaked with grime, wrestled with the grim realities of
life.
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