er had done much for him. They were very
intimate; and on one subject, in which Lopez was much interested,
their confidence had been very close. But the younger and the weaker
man of the two could not quite bring himself to the point of making
an inquiry which he thought would be disagreeable. Lopez had never
before, in all their intercourse, hinted at the possibility of his
having or having had filial aspirations. He had been as though he
had been created self-sufficient, independent of mother's milk
or father's money. Now the question might have been asked almost
naturally. But it was not asked.

Everett Wharton was a trouble to his father,--but not an agonizing
trouble, as are some sons. His faults were not of a nature to rob his
father's cup of all its sweetness and to bring his grey hairs with
sorrow to the grave. Old Wharton had never had to ask himself whether
he should now, at length, let his son fall into the lowest abysses,
or whether he should yet again struggle to put him on his legs,
again forgive him, again pay his debts, again endeavour to forget
dishonour, and place it all to the score of thoughtless youth. Had it
been so, I think that, if not on the first or second fall, certainly
on the third, the young man would have gone into the abyss; for Mr.
Wharton was a stern man, and capable of coming to a clear conclusion
on things that were nearest and even dearest to himself. But Everett
Wharton had simply shown himself to be inefficient to earn his own
bread. He had never declined even to do this,--but had simply been
inefficient. He had not declared either by words or actions that
as his father was a rich man, and as he was an only son, he would
therefore do nothing. But he had tried his hand thrice, and in
each case, after but short trial, had assured his father and his
friends that the thing had not suited him. Leaving Oxford without a
degree,--for the reading of the schools did not suit him,--he had
gone into a banking-house, by no means as a mere clerk, but with
an expressed proposition from his father, backed by the assent of
a partner, that he should work his way up to wealth and a great
commercial position. But six months taught him that banking was "an
abomination," and he at once went into a course of reading with a
barrister. He remained at this till he was called,--for a man may be
called with very little continuous work. But after he was called the
solitude of his chambers was too much for him