"I suppose we ought to have advertised," he added pensively.
"Then they'd let us alone as they do the big stores."
Banneker left the Vanney offices with a great truth illuminating
his brain; to wit, that news, whether presented ingenuously or
disingenuously, will always and inevitably be unpopular with those most
nearly affected. For while we all read avidly what we can find about the
other man's sins and errors, we all hope, for our own, the kindly mantle
of silence. And because news always must and will stir hostility, the
attitude of a public, any part of which may be its next innocent (or
guilty) victim, is instinctively inimical. Another angle of the
pariahdom of those who deal in day-to-day history, for Banneker to
ponder.
Feeling a strong desire to get away from the troublous environment of
print, Banneker was glad to avail himself of Densmore's invitation to
come to The Retreat on the following Monday and try his hand at polo
again. This time he played much better, his mallet work in particular
being more reliable.
"You ride like an Indian," said Densmore to him after the scratch game,
"and you've got no nerves. But I don't see where you got your wrist,
except by practice."
"I've had the practice, some time since.
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