"Aw, what difference does it make?" demanded the boy. "You despise me anyhow!"
"Oh!" ejaculated Seaton as a sudden light came to his groping mind. "Oh, I see! What a chump you are, old man! Of course, I despise the kind of life you've led, but I blame Minetta Lane for that, not you. And I believe there is so much solid fine stuff in you that I'm giving you this trip to show you that there are people and things outside of Minetta Lane that are more worth a promising boy's time than gambling. But, you won't play the game. You are so vain and ignorant, you refuse to see over your nose."
"I told you, you despised me," said Nucky, sullenly.
The man smiled to himself. Suddenly he took the boy's hand in both his own.
"I suppose if Jack had been reared in Minetta Lane, he'd have been just as wrong in his ideas as you are. Look here, Enoch, I'll make a bargain with you. I want you to try the Canyon for a week or so, until I get back from the Coast. If, at the end of that time, you still want Minetta Lane, I'll land you back there with fifty dollars in your pocket, and you can go your own gait."
Nucky for the first time turned and looked Seaton in the face.
"Honest?" he gasped.
Seaton nodded.
"Do I have to go down the Canyon?" asked Nucky.
"You don't have to do anything except play straight, till I get back."
"I—I guess I could stand it,"—the boy's eyes were a little pitiful in their fear.