"Yes, disgraced me. Every one in the county who knows me will point at me as one whose son married against his father's wishes—married without a penny—married like one who is ashamed of his action. Well, I imagine I can bear it."
"Is that all you have to say, dad?"
"I cannot see what there is to say besides. You have followed your own devices, and you must take the consequences."
"I think it may be as well to remember, Mr. Lethbridge," I said, "that, whether your son has acted wisely or foolishly, he can claim the credit of being sincere and honest. There is nothing ignoble in a young fellow marrying the girl he loves. As for his joining the Army, it is what every young man ought to do at a time like this."
"Pardon me, Mr. Erskine, if I have my own opinions about my son's actions. No doubt the old-fashioned ideas which were instilled into my mind as a boy are regarded as out of date. I was taught to believe in the Commandment, 'Honor thy father and thy mother.' That Commandment, in the present generation, is discarded; but I do not think the present generation, or future generations, will be any the better because they have discarded it. As for his joining the Army, he certainly knows my views about that."
"But surely you will give him credit for being conscientious and sincere?"
Josiah Lethbridge looked down at the blotting-paper upon which he had been tracing grotesque figures without speaking. He seemed to imagine that my question did not call for a reply.
"Hugh tells me that in all probability he will have to go to the front shortly," I went on. "It may be—although I sincerely trust he will come back in safety—he will never come back again. That being so, it is natural to hope that his father will say a kind word before he goes. After all, your son is doing the noblest thing of which he is capable: he is offering his life to his country."
"Pardon me, Mr. Erskine," replied Josiah Lethbridge, "but perhaps I may be forgiven if I hold different views from your own. I am a plain man, and as a rule do not waste words. When a son of mine deliberately flouts the deepest convictions of his father's life; when he deliberately defies and does what his father has commanded him not to do; when he tramples underfoot his father's deepest convictions—then, I say, he is no longer a son of mine; henceforth he is a stranger to my house."
I was staggered at this. I had quite expected anger—denunciation, perhaps—but not this cold, cruel treatment.