He looked around, thinking that perhaps the woman might have waved the handkerchief at some friend she had just left, and when he turned she had her back to him.
Lawler was conscious of a pulse of amusement over the woman's action, though he experienced no fatuous thrill.

The woman was frivolous, and had made no appeal to his imagination.
Besides, Lawler was in no mood for frivolous thought.

He was having his first experience with the invisible and subtle power that ruled the commerce of the nation, and his thoughts were serious--almost vicious.
Somewhere a mighty hand had halted activity in the Wolf River section; a power, stealthy, sinister, had interfered with the business in which he was vitally interested, interrupting it, disturbing it.
Lawler had kept himself well informed.

In the big library at the Circle L were various volumes relating to economics that had been well thumbed by him.

He had been privately educated, by his mother.