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In
one
particular
,
at
least
,
the
friends
of
Hildegarde
Moncrief
were
mistaken
.
The
wholesale
hardware
business
prospered
amazingly
.
In
the
fifteen
years
between
Benjamin
Button
's
marriage
in
1880
and
his
father
's
retirement
in
1895
,
the
family
fortune
was
doubled
--
and
this
was
due
largely
to
the
younger
member
of
the
firm
.
Needless
to
say
,
Baltimore
eventually
received
the
couple
to
its
bosom
.
Even
old
General
Moncrief
became
reconciled
to
his
son-in-law
when
Benjamin
gave
him
the
money
to
bring
out
his
History
of
the
Civil
War
in
twenty
volumes
,
which
had
been
refused
by
nine
prominent
publishers
.
In
Benjamin
himself
fifteen
years
had
wrought
many
changes
.
It
seemed
to
him
that
the
blood
flowed
with
new
vigour
through
his
veins
.
It
began
to
be
a
pleasure
to
rise
in
the
morning
,
to
walk
with
an
active
step
along
the
busy
,
sunny
street
,
to
work
untiringly
with
his
shipments
of
hammers
and
his
cargoes
of
nails
.
It
was
in
1890
that
he
executed
his
famous
business
coup
:
he
brought
up
the
suggestion
that
all
nails
used
in
nailing
up
the
boxes
in
which
nails
are
shipped
are
the
property
of
the
shippee
,
a
proposal
which
became
a
statute
,
was
approved
by
Chief
Justice
Fossile
,
and
saved
Roger
Button
and
Company
,
Wholesale
Hardware
,
more
than
six
hundred
nails
every
year
.
In
addition
,
Benjamin
discovered
that
he
was
becoming
more
and
more
attracted
by
the
gay
side
of
life
.
It
was
typical
of
his
growing
enthusiasm
for
pleasure
that
he
was
the
first
man
in
the
city
of
Baltimore
to
own
and
run
an
automobile
.
Meeting
him
on
the
street
,
his
contemporaries
would
stare
enviously
at
the
picture
he
made
of
health
and
vitality
.
"
He
seems
to
grow
younger
every
year
,
"
they
would
remark
.
And
if
old
Roger
Button
,
now
sixty-five
years
old
,
had
failed
at
first
to
give
a
proper
welcome
to
his
son
he
atoned
at
last
by
bestowing
on
him
what
amounted
to
adulation
.
And
here
we
come
to
an
unpleasant
subject
which
it
will
be
well
to
pass
over
as
quickly
as
possible
.
There
was
only
one
thing
that
worried
Benjamin
Button
;
his
wife
had
ceased
to
attract
him
.
At
that
time
Hildegarde
was
a
woman
of
thirty-five
,
with
a
son
,
Roscoe
,
fourteen
years
old
.
In
the
early
days
of
their
marriage
Benjamin
had
worshipped
her
.
But
,
as
the
years
passed
,
her
honey-coloured
hair
became
an
unexciting
brown
,
the
blue
enamel
of
her
eyes
assumed
the
aspect
of
cheap
crockery
--
moreover
,
and
,
most
of
all
,
she
had
become
too
settled
in
her
ways
,
too
placid
,
too
content
,
too
anaemic
in
her
excitements
,
and
too
sober
in
her
taste
.
As
a
bride
it
been
she
who
had
"
dragged
"
Benjamin
to
dances
and
dinners
--
now
conditions
were
reversed
.
She
went
out
socially
with
him
,
but
without
enthusiasm
,
devoured
already
by
that
eternal
inertia
which
comes
to
live
with
each
of
us
one
day
and
stays
with
us
to
the
end
.
Benjamin
's
discontent
waxed
stronger
.
At
the
outbreak
of
the
Spanish-American
War
in
1898
his
home
had
for
him
so
little
charm
that
he
decided
to
join
the
army
.
With
his
business
influence
he
obtained
a
commission
as
captain
,
and
proved
so
adaptable
to
the
work
that
he
was
made
a
major
,
and
finally
a
lieutenant-colonel
just
in
time
to
participate
in
the
celebrated
charge
up
San
Juan
Hill
.
He
was
slightly
wounded
,
and
received
a
medal
.
Benjamin
had
become
so
attached
to
the
activity
and
excitement
of
array
life
that
he
regretted
to
give
it
up
,
but
his
business
required
attention
,
so
he
resigned
his
commission
and
came
home
.
He
was
met
at
the
station
by
a
brass
band
and
escorted
to
his
house
.
Hildegarde
,
waving
a
large
silk
flag
,
greeted
him
on
the
porch
,
and
even
as
he
kissed
her
he
felt
with
a
sinking
of
the
heart
that
these
three
years
had
taken
their
toll
.
She
was
a
woman
of
forty
now
,
with
a
faint
skirmish
line
of
gray
hairs
in
her
head
.
The
sight
depressed
him
.
