Max had rolled over and turned his face away from his friends. He lay very still.
“But that wasn’t the worst of it,” said Alex, in a lower tone. “As far as a man can do, father has left the past behind him; but there is one side of it that can’t ever be set right. I’ve a brother about ten years old; I don’t believe you ever heard me say much about him.”
Leon shook his head.
“Poor little Jack! He’s had the hardest of it all to bear. He was born just in the most dismal days, when father was at his worst, and mother was overworked and worried till she didn’t know which way to turn to get us food and clothes, for she was too proud to ask help from her old friends. You ought to know my mother, Leon. Well, I suppose that affected Jack; anyway, his mind has never been quite right, so he couldn’t go to school or anything of that kind. He’s a dear little fellow, but he’ll always be like a baby; and father has to watch him, year after year, and know that he alone is the cause of it, that Jack has to take the penalty of his father’s sins. That’s all there is to the story; but if you’d lived through what we have done, you wouldn’t want to play with wine-drinking, for it’s easier to go down than up, and where one comes up again, one hundred stay down. Besides, if you can bring yourself up out of the rut, you don’t know what harm you may be doing to the next generation who aren’t to blame, but can’t help themselves and just have to grin and bear it. Keep out of it, Max, if you want to be a happy man.”
There was another silence, a long one this time. Max did not move, so Alex beckoned to Leon, and together they stole quietly away, leaving the boy to himself.
The boys never knew what passed in the doctor’s study, that night. Max was gone for a long time, and when he went back to his room at bed-time, his eyes were red and his voice unsteady. With scarcely a word to Louis, he went to bed, but not to sleep. Far into the night, he lay staring at the darkness, while Dr. Flemming’s last words still echoed in his ears,—
“But above all, my dear boy, you will never be a full-grown man until you have learned to stand alone, without leaning on your friends. Whenever the question arises, make up your mind, once for all, where the right lies, and then go towards it, even if your path leads across the bodies of your dearest friends. Right is always right; and I am here only just to help my boys to find it out and march steadily towards it. That done, I need no other reward. Now, bless you, my boy; and good night.”
CHAPTER XVII.
COMMENCEMENT.
Quickly, far too quickly, the remaining weeks of the year had passed, and the commencement season had come. Little had occurred to mark the four weeks, for the work of the school had gone smoothly on to its close, without disaster or incident to mark the every-day routine. For a week after the spread in Osborn’s room, the school had buzzed with more or less incorrect reports of the affair; but, except for Alex and Leon, none of the cadets knew how near it had come to being disastrous to careless, mischievous Max. Then it was slowly forgotten by every one but the disgraced lads, and by Max who had gone to work in earnest, anxious to prove to the doctor that he was worthy of his continued confidence and friendship.