“I can’t understand how circumstances could have prevented you from attending any school you wished to attend, my son. Am I not right in thinking that your father was in a situation to give you the advantage of a course at any college in the country?”
He evaded the question.
“At the time when I was contemplating entering Yale,” he said, “I saw a business opportunity that fascinated me.”
“I shall never cease to regret that you chose to let business interfere with your education, Chester. You might have attended college, and been assured that your father would have set you up in any business or profession you chose to follow.”
There was not the slightest recollection of the fact that appalling reverses had stripped D. Roscoe Arlington of wealth and power and made it necessary for him to husband the few resources left him, in order to provide for himself and his wife in their old age.
More than once Chester had wondered at the strength of the man who, in face of such calamities, had found it possible to hold up his head and resist the temptation to put a bullet through his brain. It is almost invariably the brave man who survives crushing adversity; it is the coward who commits suicide.
“Father was not very well, you know,” Chester went on. “Besides, it is often the worthless chap who depends upon his pater to start him out in life.”
“You are very independent, my son. I presume it’s a spirit to be proud of. I can’t quite understand why your father didn’t come out here with us.”
“He didn’t wish to take the long railroad journey, mother. We’re going back in a few days. A letter from the physician tells me that father is not at all well.”
“Then we should return at once. If he is ill, my place is at his side. You must stay with us, Chester.”