becomes sordid. Ferdy wrote his
father that he had the prize, and that Norman, his only rival, had given
up the fight. Mrs. Wickersham openly boasted of her son's success and of
her motive, and sent him money lavishly. Young Wickersham's ambition,
however, like that of many another man, o'erleaped itself. Wickersham
drew about him many companions, but they were mainly men of light
weight, roisterers and loafers, whilst the better class of his
fellow-students quickly awoke to a true realization of the case. A new
element was being introduced into college politics. The recognition of
danger was enough to set the best element in the college to meet it. At
the moment when Ferdy Wickersham felt himself victor, and abandoned
himself to fresh pleasures, a new and irresistible force unexpectedly
arose which changed the fate of the day. Wickersham tried to stem the
current, but in vain. It was a tidal wave. Ferdy Wickersham faced
defeat, and he could not stand it. He suddenly abandoned college, and
went off, it was said, with a coryphee. His father and mother did not
know of it for some time after he had left.

Mr. Wickersham received the first intimation of it in the shape of a
draft which came to him from some distant point. When Mrs. Wickersham
learned of it, she fell into a consuming rage, and then took to her bed.
The downfall of her hopes and of her ambition had come through the
person she loved best on earth. Finally she became so ill that Mr.
Wickersham telegraphed a peremptory order to his son to come home, and
after a reasonable time the young man appeared.

His mother's joy at meeting him overshadowed everything else with her,
and the prodigal was received by her with that forgiveness which is both
the weakness and the strength of a mother's heart. The father, however,
had been struck as deeply as the mother. His ambition, if of a different
kind, had been quite as great as that of Mrs. Wickersham, and the
hard-headed, keen-sighted man, who had spent his life fighting his way
to the front, often with little consideration for the rights of others,
felt that one of his motives and one of his rewards had
perished together.

The interview that took place in his office between him and his son was
one which left its visible stamp on the older man, and for a time
appeared to have had an effect even on the younger, with all his
insolence and impervious selfishness. When Aaron Wickersham unlocked his
private door and allowed