of the family? He turned pale. Could his father be dead--the father who
had cursed him and forbade him ever to appear before him again? Even if
he were dead they would not send for him. His elder brother would
succeed to the title and estates.

Letting the paper drop out of his hands, he rose and, leaving the place,
walked along Third Avenue as if in a dream. Coxe and Willoughby, 27
Broad Street! Well, there was no harm in calling on them to see what
they wanted. Their offices would be closed now, but he would go first
thing in the morning. The dull roar of the city's tremendous traffic,
the clanging of car-gongs, the hoarse cries of news vendors greeted him
as he stemmed the tide of pushing humanity, men and women toilers--the
day's work ended--all hurrying to trains and ferries. A wagon driven at
reckless speed round a corner nearly knocked him down as he crossed a
street. A fellow workman loafing at the entrance to a saloon jocularly
invited him to enter and take a drink. But he paid no heed. He strode
along, walking as on air, his thoughts far away.

The advertisement he had just read had taken him back fifteen years. He
saw himself in England, just graduated from College, receiving the
congratulations of his friends. He remembered his father's pride in his
success and his kindly admonition to continue as he had begun, so that
one day he might add even more distinction to the honorable name he
bore. How had he followed that sage advice? No sooner released from the
restraint of the University than he plunged into every form of
dissipation, sowing his wild oats recklessly, blindly, utterly
indifferent to the deadly crop they might one day yield. The corrupt,
gay city beckoned to him, and he could not resist its pleasure-call. He
scattered gold right and left on race-tracks, at cards, on women. A
small inheritance turned over at his majority went speedily the way of
all the rest, and then he went to the money-lenders to pay for further
extravagances, incurring obligations he could not meet. Sir William,
sorely disappointed, came to the rescue again and again, and, extracting
a promise of reformation, made him enter Woolwich to try for a
commission in the Army. Plucked at every examination, he was quickly
discouraged, returned to his fast companions and gradually drifted into
the aimless, loose way of living of the idle man-about-town. Debts
accumulated, the creditors dunned and dogged his footsteps until life
became