Face to Face

t distinctly American. On his paternal side, he could claim kinship with a Clay who lived in Puritan times, and from whom he was descended in a direct line through a farmer, a schoolmaster, two clergymen, a country doctor, and a banker. The last named was his grandfather, who left the family homestead in Worcester County, Massachusetts, with the hope of making his fortune in the great money mart of the nation. This he succeeded in doing before middle life, and after various experiences he founded the banking house which bore his name for many years after his death, in 1850, and was a synonym for commercial honor and sagacity. He left one son, who had married before the old man's decease Grace, the youngest daughter of Peter Hackensack, the great-grandson of the famous patroon of the same name, Though putatively an alliance between blood and money, te banker's heir was dead in love with his Knickerbocker bride, who reciprocated his passion with all her heart. He succeeded to his father's positions as head of the firm, director in numerous corporations, and favorite trustee of charitable institutions ; and being by temperament a restless, enterprising fellow as well, his thousands soon became a cool million. His wife, a beautiful, spirited woman, who had been a belle before her marriage, became a society leader after the maternal interests, which the birth of Ernest inspired, became a trifle monotonous, and for many seasons it was the fashion for men out of conce... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.