Any other man upon seeing Kitty or thinking about her would have jumped into the future from the spring of a dream.

The disparity in years would not have mattered.

It was all nonsense, of course.

But for his dropping into the office and casually picking up the thread of his acquaintance with Kitty, Molly--the memory of her--would have gone on dimming.

Actions, tremendous and world-wide, had set his vision toward the future; he had been too busy to waste time in retrospection and introspection.