“Oh, you have a kind and noble heart! I have known it always. Frank, I could not have loved you more had you been my own son. I was an old fool and easily duped. I thought I would make a large fortune for you. It was for you alone that I was thinking; not for myself. It seemed a safe investment. Ah, but that man could make things look promising! And then, when I had lost more than half of your fortune, I had not the courage to confess. I was desperate. It seemed that my last hope was to plunge again. I went into cotton, and was led on till I reached the last ditch. The crash came at last, and everything was swept away.
“My boy, this goes to show how one false step leads to another, and to final ruin. Beware of the first step. There is seldom any turning back for a person who once goes wrong. Honor is lost with the first false move, and then the fine sensibilities become dulled so that the descent, slow at first, becomes swift and sure after a time. The black secret cannot be kept long. When it becomes known that the first downward step has been taken, confidence in you is lost, and those who know of your mistake are always expecting you to repeat it. You discover this, and their lack of confidence in you causes you to doubt yourself. As soon as you doubt yourself, the battle has turned against you, and your defeat must follow.”
The professor paused, quite out of breath. After some seconds, he hastened to say:
“I know you do not need this sermon, my boy, but something drew it from me. You have learned the lesson well, and I am sure there is no cause to fear for you. Your mother taught you all these things. I had hoped to live to see you prosperous and successful, an honored man among men. All those hopes are ended. I am weary now, and I shall soon be at rest.”
The final words came like a sigh, and, looking into the face of the sick man, Frank saw the seal of the Destroyer there. Then Merry knew that the time had come for a mortal being to face the Great Creator. Like the lamplight that faded in the day dawn the human flame was growing dimmer in the dawn of Eternity.
A breeze came up and moved the trees outside. Upon a window pane some twigs were tapping like the ghostly fingers of death seeking admittance to that chamber. The swaying of the branches made shifting blots and blurs on the ceiling. They were shadowy hands that beckoned, beckoned, beckoned.
“I was lonely in the world,” said the sinking man, after a time; “I was lonely till you came into my life. Others did not understand me. They said I was erratic and cranky. You seemed to understand me, and there was a bond of sympathy between us. Now, at the last, you are the only one to be with me. It is well; I ask no more.”
The dim eyes rested lovingly on Frank’s face, and the thin hands still clung to those of the youth. Frank tried to speak, but he choked, and then, despite his efforts, burst into tears, dropping his face upon the bed.
“Don’t!” entreated the professor, placing one hand on Frank’s head. “It is not right that you should weep for me, the cause of your misfortune.”
“Please don’t speak of that again!” sobbed Frank. “Do not make it any harder for us both! You have been like a father to me, and it does not seem that the time has come when we must part!”