The Carleton Case

A telephone call sends Doctor Franz Helmar toward The Birches, the country home of Edward Carleton. Before the visit, his conversation with Doctor Morrison brings out a family disagreement between Edward's son Jack and his brother Henry. Morrison praises Henry's business success and public service, while Helmar's memories of Jack at college lead him to defend the younger man's character. Their different judgments put reputation at the center of the opening.

Ellery H. Clark develops these tensions through encounters among relatives, friends and men eager for influence. During a train scene, Jim Cummings values the chance to travel with Henry, whose financial and political standing impresses him. Jack, meanwhile, meets Arthur Vaughan on a train and appears stronger and more resolved than before. These scenes offer readers a novel concerned with family loyalties, social ambition and the distance between an admired public image and personal judgment.