The Auction Block

The Auction Block is a Fiction Classic Story Book. Peter Knight flung himself into the decrepit arm-chair beside the center-table and growled: "Isn't that just my luck? And me a Democrat for twenty years. There's nothing in politics, Jimmy". His son James smiled crookedly, with a languid tolerance bespeaking amusement and contempt. James prided himself upon his forbearance, and it was rarely indeed that he betrayed more than a hint of the superiority which he felt toward his parent. "Politics is all right, provided you're a good picker", he said, with all the assurance of twenty-two, "but you fell off the wrong side of the fence, and you're sore". "Of course I am. Wouldn't anybody be sore?" "These country towns always go in for the reform stuff, every so often. If you'd listen to me and-" His father interrupted harshly: "Now, cut that out. I don't want to go to New York, and I won't". Peter Knight tried to look forceful, but the expression did not fit his weak, complacent features. He was a plump man with red cheeks rounded by habitual good humor; his chin was short, and beneath it were other chins, distended and sagging as if from the weight of chuckles within. When he had succeeded in fixing a look of determination upon his countenance the result was an artificial scowl and a palpably false pout. Wearing such a front, he continued: "When I say 'no' I mean it, and the subject is closed. I like Vale, I know everybody here, and everybody knows me".