The obligations imposed by his wife's fortune and position were sometimes distracting to a man who followed his profession, and he was expected to be interested in a great many worthy endeavors on her account as well as on his own.

His existence was becoming a network of great and little details.

He had expected that success would bring him freedom and power; but it had brought only power that was in itself another kind of restraint.

He had always meant to keep his personal liberty at all costs, as old MacKeller, his first chief, had done, and not, like so many American engineers, to become a part of a professional movement, a cautious board member, a Nestor de pontibus.

He happened to be engaged in work of public utility, but he was not willing to become what is called a public man.