y has developed rapidly,
and possesses an ability for business naturally inherited from you; but
when his mind is once made up it seems impossible to change him. I hope
you will set him a good example by showing him your own strength of
character in going to him now. As for our relations, Stephen, in spite
of the last stormy interview, and your attitude since, I know that I
have no firmer friend than you, and you know well that my affection for
you has not lessened because of anything so trivial as what has passed.
Old friends are like old wine in more than one respect--the explosion
made by the blowing out of the cork does not affect the quality. Come to
me first, and let me tell you the whole story_."

"I'll do nothing of the sort," Sanford fumed as he finished the letter;
yet the first train leaving Pittsburgh which he could catch carried him
to New York.

The months which had intervened had left their impress upon him, and his
friends had noticed it, though ignorant of the cause. Allen had been
away from home so much during the past few years, that his failure to
appear beneath the parental roof after his return from Europe was no
occasion for comment. Yet it was not the fact that he was separated from
the boy that wore on Stephen Sanford, but rather the knowledge that a
barrier had arisen between them. He had honestly expected that Allen
would refuse to take him seriously when he cast him adrift. They had
quarrelled before and nothing had come of it, so he had no reason to
think that this would be any exception. He knew the boy's tastes, and
while blaming him for his extravagances, he was proud to have him "live
like a gentleman." Even with the income assured from the position given
him by Mr. Gorham, Sanford knew how small it must be compared with the
allowance which Allen had previously received; and he suffered over
again the privations of his own youth while thinking of the self-denials
which his son must be obliged to practise. Picturing him living in a
hall bedroom of meagre proportions, taking his meals at cheap
restaurants and generally resorting to those economies common to
ambitious youth fighting its battle against the world, the father would
many times have sent him a substantial check if he could have made sure
that the source would remain unknown.

Yet he insisted to himself that Allen must come to him. He would respond
to Gorham's letter to the extent of going to New York and discussing the
matter