They never wearied of explaining how Mr.Dick, the senior brother, had worked overtime by day to send Mr.George, the junior brother, to school by night, and how Mr.George had then worked overtime by night to send Mr.Dick to school by day.

Thus they had come up the business ladder hand over hand, landing later on in life on the platform of success like two corpulent acrobats, panting with the strain of it.
"For years," Mr.George would explain, "we had father and mother to keep as well; then they died, and Dick and me saw daylight." By which he meant no harm at all, but only stated a fact, and concealed the virtue of it.
And being self-made men they made it a point to do what they could to lessen the importance of such an institution as St.Asaph's Church.

By the same contrariety of nature the two Overend brothers (their business name was Overend Brothers, Limited) were supporters of the dissentient Young Men's Guild, and the second or rival University Settlement, and of anything or everything that showed a likelihood of making trouble.
On this principle they were warm supporters and friends of the Rev.Dr.
McTeague.

The minister had even gone so far as to present to the brothers a copy of his philosophical work "McTeague's Exposition of the Kantian Hypothesis." and the two brothers had read it through in the office, devoting each of them a whole morning to it.

Mr.Dick, the senior brother, had said that he had never seen anything like it, and Mr.George, the junior, had declared that a man who could write that was capable of anything.
On the whole it was evident that the relations between the Overend family and the presbyterian religion were too intimate to allow Mrs.
Tom Overend, formerly Miss Philippa Furlong, to sit anywhere else of a Sunday than under Dr.McTeague.
"Philippa writes," continued Mr.Furlong "that under the circumstances she and Tom would like to do something for your church.