ith the callousness that comes from suffering
which has reached its lowest depths, that he was about to rebuke him
again.

"And so," said General Marston, sternly, "you have come into your
kingdom; into what you deserve."

"Yes," said Charles. "If it is any pleasure to you to know that what you
prophesied on several occasions has come true, you can enjoy it. I am
ruined!"

"You fool!" said the sick man slowly. "To have come to five-and-thirty,
and to have used up everything which makes life worth having. I am not
speaking only of money. There is a bankruptcy in your face that money
will never pay. And you had talent and a good heart and the making of a
man in you once. I saw that when your father turned you adrift. I saw
that when you were at your worst after your brother's marriage. Yes, you
need not start. I knew your secret and kept it as well as you did
yourself. I tried to stop you; but you went your own way."

Charles was silent. It was true, and he knew it.

"And so you thought, I suppose, that if your father had made a just will
you could have retrieved yourself?"

"I know I could," said Charles, firmly; "but he left the ----shire
property to Ralph, and every shilling of his capital; and Ralph had my
mother's fortune already. I have Stoke Moreton and the place in Surrey,
which he could not take from me, but everything is entailed, down to the
trees in the park. I have nominally a large income; but I am in the
hands of the Jews. I can't settle with them as I expected, and they will
squeeze me to the uttermost. However, as you say, I have the
consolation of knowing I brought it on myself."

"And if your father acted justly, as you would call it, which I knew he
never would, you would have run through everything in five years' time."

"No, I should not. I know I have been a fool; but there are two kinds of
fools--the kind that sticks to folly all its life, and the kind that has
its fling, and has done with it. I belong to the second kind. My father
had no right to take my last chance from me. If he had left it me, I
should have used it."

"You look tired of your fling," said the elder man. "Very tired. And you
think money would set you right, do you?" He looked critically at the
worn, desperate face opposite him. "I made my will the other day," he
went on, his eyes still fixed on Charles. "I had not much to leave, and
I have no near relations, so I divided it among various charitable
institutions. I see