he resumed his examination of his father's papers.

In a vague sort of way he regarded his legacy of the Legonia Fish
Cannery as a trust. In the atmosphere of this room this feeling was
always enhanced, the trust more sacred. Here Richard Gregory had worked,
planned, worried. Every detail of the room spoke eloquently from father
to son. Here was begun an unfinished work. Richard Gregory had believed
in it; had given his life to it.

Farnsworth had said that the business had never paid. That his client
had purchased it directly against his advice and had continued to throw
good money after bad ever since. The lawyer advised selling at the first
good opportunity.

Kenneth Gregory absolutely refused to believe that his father had
failed. The business had not prospered. That was true. But doubtless
there were good and sufficient reasons. He continued his examination of
the contents of the safe, methodically going through the various
compartments and making notes concerning the papers found therein. At
length he came to a memorandum which held his attention. It was the
agreement his father had made with Lang to purchase ten fully-equipped
fishing-boats for the fisherman.

Gregory studied the penciled notes. His father had reposed untold
confidence in Lang's integrity. So much was shown by the loose
phraseology of the document and the extreme latitude given the fisherman
in compliance with its terms. That this confidence had evidently not
been misplaced, was evidenced by the promptness with which Lang met the
payments as they fell due.

Farnsworth, Gregory remembered, had regarded the chattel mortgage on
Lang's boats and equipment as a most doubtful asset. If Lang had left a
son the old lawyer had maintained, who would be competent to go on with
his father's work, the situation would have appeared in a more favorable
light.

But Lang had left no son. Only a daughter. And, to quote the reputable
Farnsworth, what chance would any man stand of getting anything out of a
woman on a loosely drawn contract like that? Figure it profit and loss,
my boy, he had concluded bruskly.

Like Farnsworth, Gregory too wished that Lang had left a son. It would
be easier dealing with a man, competent or incompetent, than a woman.
Well, he would say nothing to the girl for the time being at least. She
had had enough to bear in the loss of her father. That much he could
swear to. When she had defaulted the next payment he would make her a