"Then you are going to use your own money entirely in this real estate venture in Chicago?"
"Well—er—most likely. Of course I may become pushed for ready cash at times and will then look to your mother to help me out a little. Every man, no matter how well off, gets pushed at times, when he cannot turn his securities into ready cash, you know."
"I shall advise my mother to keep her fortune in her own hands."
"You will!" James Talbot became more enraged than ever. "Don't you dare to interfere between my wife and myself."
"I will do all I can to keep her money out of your reach."
"Perhaps you want it yourself?" sneered Talbot.
"No, I want her to keep it and enjoy it as long as she lives. I don't believe you are any kind of a business manager, and if she put the money in your care she might be a beggar in a year or two."
"Boy, boy, this to me! me, your father!" cried Talbot.
"You are not my father, Mr. Talbot, and you need not call yourself such. My father was a far better man than you are, I can tell you that. He made his own way in the world, just as I am trying to do, and ask no favors from anybody."
"You are impertinent—a thorough good-for-nothing!" howled James Talbot, hardly knowing what to say. "I want to do you a kindness, and this is the way you receive me. I will not speak to you longer. But don't you dare to set my wife against me, or there will be trouble, mind that—there will be trouble!"