It had been a typically unsatisfactory day. Carmody had gone to the office, flirted mildly with Miss Gibbon, disagreed respectfully with Mr. Wainbock, and spent fifteen minutes with Mr. Blackwell, discussing the outlook for the football Giants. Toward the end of the day he had argued with Mr. Seidlitz — argued vehemently and with a total lack of knowledge — about the steady depletion of the country’s natural resources, and the remorseless advance of destructive agencies such as Con Ed, the Army Engineering Corps, tourists, fire ants, and pulp-paper manufacturers. All of these, he contended, were responsible in varying degrees for the spoliation of the landscape and the steady obliteration of the remaining pockets of natural loveliness.