into the office with him, but
some way I didn't fit in. I've no doubt there was lots of romance there,
too, but I was of the wrong nature; I simply couldn't get enthusiastic
over it. As we already had more money than we could possibly spend on
things that were good for us, I failed to see the point in sitting up
nights to increase it. Being of a frank disposition I confided in my
father that I felt I was wasting my time in a broker's office. He, being
of an equally frank disposition, confided in me that he entertained the
same opinion.

"Then I delivered myself of some of my pet theories about wealth. I told
him that I didn't believe that any man had a right to money unless he
earned it in return for service given to society, and I said that as
society had to supply the money, society should determine the amount. I
confessed that I was a little hazy about how that was to be carried out,
but I insisted that the principle was right, and, that being so, the
working of it out was only a matter of detail. I realize now that this
was all fanatical heresy to my father; I remember the pained look that
came into his eyes. I thought at the time that it was anger, but I know
now that it was grief--grief and humiliation that a son of his should
entertain such wild and unbalanced ideas.

"Well, there was more talk, and the upshot of it was that I got out,
accompanied by an assurance from my father that I would never
be burdened with any of the family ducats. Roy--my younger
brother--succeeded to the worries of wealth, and I came to the ranges
where, no doubt to the deep chagrin of my father, I have been able to
make a living, and have, incidentally, been profoundly happy. I'll take
a wager that to-day I look ten years younger than Roy, that I can lick
him with one hand, that I have more real friends than he has, and that
I'm getting more out of life than he is. I'm a man of whims. When they
beckon I follow."

Grant had been talking intensely. He paused now, feeling that his
enthusiasm had carried him into rather fuller confidences than he had
intended.

"I'm sorry I bored you with that harangue," he said contritely. "You
couldn't possibly be interested in it."

"On the contrary, I am very much interested in it," she protested. "It
seems so much finer for a man to make his own way, rather than be lifted
up by someone else. I am sure you are already doing well in the West.
Some day you will go back to your father with more money