g
such unsettling influences, and urged him to put it out."

"Well, dear old prexy did his best to comply."

"It's that Socialist thing! As for what you propose, I simply will not
have it!"

"No? I could have started in up at Columbia, and kept it from you. But
I wanted to be all on the level--"

"I won't have it!"

"You really mean that you are not going to add a few thousand more to
my hundred thousands' worth of education?"

"I certainly shall not!"

"Then," said Jack regretfully, "I suppose after all I've got to start
in at the pick-and-shovel end."

"No, you will not! I have reared you to be a gentleman! And you are
going to be a gentleman!"

"Well, if that's the way you feel about it," he sighed, "we'll drop
the matter--temporarily."

"We'll drop it permanently!" said Mrs. De Peyster decisively.
"Besides, all this talk is utterly footless. You seem to forget that
you are sailing with me to Europe to-morrow."

"That brings me to the second point. I was hoping," Jack said mildly,
"that you would consent to take my regrets to Europe. Don't you think
Europe might be willing to overlook my negligence--just this once?"

"Jack--I can't endure your facetiousness!"

"I'm not facetious, mother dear. I'm most confoundedly and
consummately serious. I really want you to let me off on this Europe
business. Won't you--there's a dear?"

"No!"

"No?"

"Why, your passage is paid for, and my plans--You know Ethel Quintard
and her mother are sailing on the same boat. No, most certainly I
shall not let you off!"

"Well, if that's the way you feel about it," he sighed again, "perhaps
we'd better drop this matter also--temporarily."

"This matter we'll also drop permanently," his mother said, again with
her calm, incontrovertible emphasis.

"Well, that brings us to the third point." He drew a copy of the
"Record" from his pocket and pointed to a paragraph. "Mother, this is
the second time my engagement to Ethel Quintard has been in print. I
must say that I don't think it's nice of Ethel and Mrs. Quintard to
let those rumors stand. I would deny them myself, only it seems rather
a raw thing for a fellow to do. Mother, you must deny them."

"Jack, this marriage is bound to come!"

"Mother, you are simply hypnotizing yourself into the belief that I am
going to marry Ethel Quintard. When"--he painfully recrossed his legs,
and smiled pleasantly at his mother--"when, as a matter of fact, what
I have been trying to