rds in his hand. As he sat down opposite his son, John
Whittington had never looked grimmer. The vein swelled blue on his
flushed temples, and the lines on his face were deeply drawn.

"Now, Percy, you and I are going to talk business. Put down those cards
and chuck that coffin-nail into the stove. Why can't you use a man's
smoke if you're going to smoke at all? I've been talking with Mr.
Blodgett, and I find it's the same old story. You've wound up your
preparatory course with a worse smash than you had this afternoon. You
haven't made good. I'm beginning to doubt if you _can_ make good. You've
done worse every year. You're nothing now, and if you keep on like this
you'll soon be worse than nothing. You can put down one thing good and
solid--I won't stand for your going the pace like Chauncey Pike or
George Brimmer's son. I'd give half my money--yes, the whole of it, if
you had the stuff in you that young Spurling has. I mean it."

He stopped, then began again:

"I'm going to give you one chance more, and only one. It's quicksilver,
kill or cure, and a stiff dose at that. I've just been talking with
Spurling and his two friends. They're to spend the summer fishing from
an island off the Maine coast, to earn money to start their college
course. And you're going with them!"

"What! Me! I rather guess not! Nailed to the mast three months out on a
rock like that? Not for a minute! Besides, I'm booked for Bar Harbor day
after to-morrow. Got my ticket already."

"Let's look at it!"

Percy pulled out the slip of pasteboard and passed it over.

His father thrust it into his pocket.

"I can get the money on it. The agent'll take it back."

"But I don't want him to take it back."

"_I_ do."

The bulldog jaws clamped together.

"Oh, I say, Dad! Come, now! That isn't using me right!"

"Isn't using you right? Why not? Don't be a fool, Percy! Whose money
bought that ticket?"

"Mi-- Why--er--yours, of course!"

"Well, will you go to the island?"

"No, I will not."

"Then you don't get a cent more from me. You've overdrawn your
bank-account already."

"How do you know? You haven't been down to the bank."

"You don't suppose I'd have a monthly check deposited to your account
without arranging to know something about it, do you? Mighty poor
business man if I did! Now, Percy, use what little brain you have!
You've no money, and you can't earn any. Nobody would be fool enough to
hire you. There's nothing on earth