“No—not with all his money.” This came in a decided tone. “But surely you wouldn't want me to work with my hands, would you?”
“I certainly should, if necessary.”
Jack looked at him, and a shade of disappointment crossed his face.
“But I COULDN'T do anything menial.”
“There isn't anything menial in any kind of work from cleaning a stable up! The menial things are the evasions of work—tricks by which men are cheated out of their just dues.”
“Stock gambling?”
“Yes—sometimes, when the truth is withheld.”
“That's what I think; that's what I meant last night when I told you about the faro-bank. I laughed over it, and yet I can't see much difference, although I have never seen one.”
“So I understood, but you were wrong about it. Your uncle bears a very good name in the Street. He is not as much to blame as the system. Perhaps some day the firm will become real bankers, than which there is no more honorable calling.”
“But is it wrong to want to fish and shoot and have time to read.”