“Come, now,” interrupted the colonel, “let’s hear something about your plans. When are you going to be married?”
“Yes,” offered Custer. “Now that the seven hundred dollars has assured their future, there is no reason why they shouldn’t be married at once and take a suite at the Ambassador. I understand they’re as low as thirty-five hundred a month.”
“Aw, I have more than the seven hundred,” said Guy. “I’ve been saving up for a long time. We’ll have plenty to start with.”
Shannon noticed that he flushed just a little as he made the statement, and she alone knew why he flushed. It was too bad that Custer’s little sister should start her married life on money of that sort!
Shannon felt that at heart Guy was a good boy—that he must have been led into this traffic originally without any adequate realization of its criminality. Her own misfortune had made her generously ready to seek excuses for wrong-doing in others; but she dreaded to think what it was going to mean to Eva and the other Penningtons if ever the truth became known. From her knowledge of the sort of men with whom Guy was involved, she was inclined to believe that the menace of exposure or blackmail would hang over him for many years, even if the former did not materialize in the near future; for she was confident that if his confederates were discovered by the authorities, they would immediately involve him, and would try to put the full burden of responsibility upon his shoulders.
“I don’t want the financial end of matrimony to worry either of you,” the colonel was saying. “Guy has chosen a profession in which it may require years of effort to produce substantial returns. All I shall ask of my daughter’s husband is that he shall honestly apply himself to his work. If you do your best, Guy, you will succeed, and in the meantime I’ll take care of the finances.”
“But we don’t want it that way,” said Eva. “We don’t want to live on charity.”
“Do you think that what I give to my little girl would be given in a spirit of charity?” the colonel asked.
“Oh, popsy, I know you wouldn’t feel that it was; but can’t you see how Guy would feel? I want him to be independent. I’d rather get along with a little, and feel that he had earned it all.”
“It may take a long time, Eva,” said Custer; “and in the meantime the best part of your lives would be spent in worry and scrimping. I know how you feel; but there’s a way around it that has the backing of established business methods. Let father finance Guy’s writing ability, just as inventive genius is sometimes financed. When Guy succeeds, he can pay back with interest.”