1. Why did some people say that Ham Mason should have been a dramatist or a public speaker?
2. Who was the visitor who arrived at the Mason House at the time of this story?
3. Why had Mr. Hillegas come to this town?
4. Why was Mr. Mason unable to give Mr. Hillegas a room with bath?
5. Did Ham Mason claim that he knew Ed Colesberry well or only distantly?
6. Was Ed Colesberry, according to Ham, a capable person or a man of little ability?
7. What was the main ambition of Ed Colesberry's life?
8. Why did Ed Colesberry not wish to remain in Miles-town?
9. In what kind of store did he first begin to work?
10. What were the circumstances which finally forced Ed to take over Deemer's Hardware Store?
PART II
"Well, Mr. Hillegas, Maureen got sick, and the wedding had to be postponed a couple of times, and when they did get married the doctor said that it would not be good for her to move so close to the ocean as New York, for a year or so anyway.
"So Ed stayed in Milestown, making Willis Deemer's widow rich and at the same time becoming a partner in the business so that it would be easier for him to carry it on. Of course, at the same time, he was making money himself too.
" 'But as soon as Maureen can go east,' said Ed, 'we're going to New York. We're not going to bury ourselves in Milestown.'
"Ed was a really ambitious fellow, Mr. Hillegas. Do you understand?"
"Yes," said young Hillegas. "And he was determined to go to New York, in a way."
"That's it exactly," said Ham. "And about a couple of years after the time I was just telling you about her father started that real-estate development over on Gibbler's Hill, calling it Mount Airy, and though Ed objected strongly, saying that he didn't want to get tied down because he and Maureen were surely going to New York as soon as their new baby was able to travel, they made him one of the big men in the business, since they thought that this was the best way to make it a definite success.
"Of course, you're wondering why Milestown didn't tell Ed to go to New York if he didn't like it here, but you have to remember, Mr. Hillegas, that Ed was one of those fellows who can get away with that sort of thing, and besides Milestown just didn't want to lose Ed, because everything he got into, no matter if he wanted to or not, went big and people trusted him.
"For instance, the real-estate development in which everybody had invested their good money was doing just fine when Ketchum Brent, Maureen's father, died, and Ed simply had to take over Ketchum's work. Besides, all Ketchum's money was in the development, and, now that it came to Maureen, Ed just had to devote his time to it. I don't think Milestown has ever had a bigger money maker than that development, Mr. Hillegas. But Ed was as angry as a bear.
"Yes, sir," said Ham. "And it was very strange the way that things happened. The development was a big success, and Maureen had her second baby, and Ed made an arrangement with the bank to take care of his and Maureen's real-estate holdings. He sold out his half of the hardware business at a big profit and was looking for someone to buy his house.
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" 'Ham,' he said to me, ' I'm going to New York. Yes, sir, the time has come and I'm a young man yet. Maureen's not any too well, and she needs care by special doctors, and the kids will have special schools, and it's only a matter of days now when I'll hear the conductor of the New York train yelling, "All aboard!" Yes, sir.'
"And, Mr. Hillegas, just at that time the savings bank almost failed completely. Yes, sir. Tom Staub, the cashier, left town one night with almost all the money, and it looked as though most of the working people in Milestown had lost all their money.
"It certainly looked for a while as if the savings bank would have to close, and while the poor people would like to have killed Tom Staub, they were thinking more about saving the bank in some way, and they just naturally began insisting that Ed Colesberry do something.
"Maureen, who by this time also wanted to go to New York, just made Ed take over the bank. Ed never had any banking experience, but he didn't need any as far as I could see. He just took over, and the bank did what everything else did just what Ed wanted it to do. It took a little time but Ed saved it.
"He came out of it president of the bank. It's the biggest savings bank in this end of the state today. But when Ed took over the bank he came to me and said that no matter what happened he was going to New York and nobody could stop him. I couldn't help laughing a little."
Ham paused impressively.
"So I'll find him at the savings bank, hey?" said young Hillegas.
"No," said Ham, "you won't, Mr. Hillegas. Ed's gone to New York. I was coming to that. Ed died last week. In his will which he made right after they made him head of the bank he gave a million dollars to Milestown and the rest to Maureen and the children provided that they buried him in New York. He was determined to get there somehow."
