He had suddenly remembered his intention to
ask Roderick Magsworth Bitts, Junior, about Rena Magsworth, and this
recollection collided in his mind with the irritation produced by
Roderick's claiming some mysterious attainment which would warrant his
setting up as a show in his single person. Penrod's whole manner changed
instantly.
"Roddy," he asked, almost overwhelmed by a prescience of something vast
and magnificent, "Roddy, are you any relation of Rena Magsworth?"
Roderick had never heard of Rena Magsworth, although a concentration
of the sentence yesterday pronounced upon her had burned, black and
horrific, upon the face of every newspaper in the country. He was not
allowed to read the journals of the day and his family's indignation
over the sacrilegious coincidence of the name had not been expressed in
his presence. But he saw that it was an awesome name to Penrod Schofield
and Samuel Williams. Even Herman and Verman, though lacking many
educational advantages on account of a long residence in the country,
were informed on the subject of Rena Magsworth through hearsay, and they
joined in the portentous silence.
"Roddy," repeated Penrod, "honest, is Rena Magsworth some relation of
yours?"
There is no obsession more dangerous to its victims than a conviction
especially an inherited one--of superiority: this world is so full
of Missourians. And from his earliest years Roderick Magsworth Bitts,
Junior, had been trained to believe in the importance of the Magsworth
family.
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