“I ruined one business,” was the reply. “One is enough. Be cautious. Go slow. You’ve got a good thing—a fortune—if you handle your finances properly and don’t try to spread out too fast.”
He shook hands with both the boys, to their great bewilderment.
“Where are you going?” asked Sidney. “One would think you were starting on a long journey.”
“I’m taking leave of the business,” he answered, with a laugh that had something of pathos in it. “I’m going to shut myself up for a day or so until I get my little scheme elaborated, and then you shall have the benefit of it, but I am out of active business.”
Sidney and Albert were silent for some time after he had left. Jonas Kalin always had been a rather eccentric man, and they were accustomed to letting his whims and peculiarities of word and action pass without comment, but there was something in this parting that made them feel uncomfortable.
“I don’t like it,” remarked Sidney. “I wonder if the worry and disappointment have been too much for him.”
“It is a hard blow to him—not for himself, but for us,” returned Albert. “However, we’ll see him this evening.”
Mrs. Albert Kalin was the housekeeper for the three men. Sidney, being a bachelor, had always lived with his father, but Albert had married and moved away from the parental roof. Then, when his mother died, Jonas had called him back and practically turned the house over to him and his wife, reserving only one large room for himself. In this he had his own little library, and to this he frequently retired for long evenings of solitude, for, while not a recluse, he was a man who really needed no other companionship than his own thoughts and often seemed to avoid the society of others.
He was not at home, however, when his sons arrived for dinner. Mrs. Albert Kalin said he had brought home two or three bundles early in the afternoon, had gone directly to his room, where he remained for about an hour, and had then appeared with a valise.
“I never saw him look so haggard and distressed,” she explained. “He kissed me most affectionately and said he had some business to attend to and would not be home to-night.”