leaned forward and opened one of the sick
man's hands, then folded the fingers tightly over something that
appeared to be invisible--and precious. "Now, you believe in him, no
matter what he's done; you believe he wouldn't wrong you or himself
by doing anything base; you believe that he is coming back to you--to
break the loneliness, and that he'll find a poor, plain man for a
father, waiting him. Don't you remember the prodigal lad--how his
father saw him a long way off and went to meet him? Well, you can
meet him with a long-distance trust--understanding. And there's one
thing more; don't you be so blind or so foolish as to crush him with
the weight of 'all this.' Mind, he has the right to the making of his
own life--for a bit at least; and it's your privilege to give him
that right--somehow. You've still a chance to keep him from wanting
to pitch your money for quoits off the Battery."

Patsy sprang to her feet; but Burgeman senior had reached forward
quickly and caught her skirt, holding it in a marvelously firm grip.
"Then you do know who I am; you've known it all along."

"I know you're the master of all this, and your lad is the Rich Man's
Son; that's all."

"And you think--you think I have no right to leave my son the
inheritance I have worked and saved for him."

"I think you have no right to leave him your--greed. 'Tis a mortal
poor inheritance for any lad."

"Your vocabulary is rather blunt." Burgeman smiled faintly. "But it
is very refreshing. It is a long time since naked truth and I met
face to face."

"But will it do you any good--or is it too late?" Patsy eyed him
contemplatively.

"Too late for what?"

"Too late for the inheritance--too late to give it away somewhere
else--or loan it for a few years till the lad had a chance to find
out if he could make some decent use of it himself. There's many ways
of doing it; I have thought of a few this last half-hour. You might
loan it to the President to buy up some of the railroads for the
government--or to purchase the coal or oil supply; or you might offer
it as a prize to the country that will stop fighting first; or it
might buy clean politics into some of the cities--or endow a
university." She laughed. "It's odd, isn't it, how a body without a
cent to her name can dispose of a few score millions--in less
minutes?"

"If you please, sir." A motionless, impersonal figure in livery stood
at a respectful distance behind the wheel-chair. Neither of