'Think how much good you could do with it,' murmured Aunt Janet.
'As the pickpocket said when he put the stolen dime in the collection plate,' said Austin; but fortunately Aunt Janet did not understand.
'Uncle had a right to do what he pleased with his own,' said John defiantly. 'If he chose to cast off his son, for reasons which he considered sufficient, he had the right.'
'But you cannot cast off your son,' persisted Alice. 'John, we have a boy of our own. You know that the obligation is one of all eternity; you cannot get rid of fatherhood.'
'O papa, papa, you hurt me,' squealed little John, suddenly interrupted in his philosophy-weaving.
'Confound it all!' cried John with sudden irritation. 'Isn't this just like life! To hold out the rope, just to grab it away again with a grin—I won't, I say. What is mine is mine.'
'But it isn't yours.'
'Did Frank have any children?' he asked.
'Several, I believe,' admitted Emily reluctantly.
'And he never got on?'