t, "Thou shalt not be found out."

All this prejudiced the boy unduly against diplomacy as a profession. In
his eyes the acts of this man were unsportsmanlike; and to Allen
Sanford, who looked upon a "good sport" as the noblest work of God, this
charge was the most serious in the category of crime. But his
expostulations and protests to his father were of no avail. Stephen
Sanford had made up his mind, and that was the end of it. Until he met
Alice, Allen had been more upset because his father still treated him as
a child than on account of any serious opposition to plans which he
himself had formed. He had never yet focussed himself upon any one
particular determination with sufficient strength to make his father's
objections other than an annoyance. But now, assimilating a part of the
girl's enthusiasm, and strengthened by the instant admiration which Mr.
Gorham commanded, he was determined to make a stand at this point,
taking the head of the great Consolidated Companies as his model, and
with lance in hand to charge the world just as he would have "bucked"
the Yale line. Even the undesired diplomatic position was apparently not
forthcoming; now he would not only make an effort on his own account,
but he would insist upon his right to do so. He did not know that the
real reason he had heard nothing from his father during these weeks was
because the positions which had been offered thus far appeared to the
older man too insignificant for his son to be able to accept with
dignity. As one of the Pennsylvania senators remarked, "Stephen Sanford
evidently expects his son to go to the Court of St. James."

With Allen in this mood, it was not surprising that the meeting between
father and son, immediately after Stephen Sanford arrived in Washington,
should have ended in a declaration of war. During the interview Allen
gave abundant evidence of his unfitness for anything which required
diplomacy; and his father, surprised to find in the boy a will as
unyielding as his own, and angered beyond expression by Allen's
opposition, lost all control over himself and stamped out of the house,
leaving his son behind, cast out forever from his affection, protection,
and support.

"Let the young cub starve for a while and he'll realize what his father
has done for him," he fumed. "Let him shift for himself and we'll see
how soon he'll come home to roost."

On he stamped along the street, his cane expressing upon the pavement
the ang