The two men smiled into each other's eyes. A great devotion lay between them. But their regard was not likely to interfere with the business in hand.
Gordon helped himself. Then he rose from his chair. He moved across the handsome room, towering enormously. His six feet three inches were well matched by a great pair of athletic shoulders. His handsome face bore no traces of the fast living implied by the enormous total of his debts. The wholesome tan of outdoor sports left him a fine specimen of the more brilliant youth of America. Then, too, in his humorous blue eyes lay an extra dash of recklessness, which was probably due to his superlative physical advantages. He came back to his chair and propped his vast body on the back of it. His father was watching him affectionately.
"Dad," he exclaimed, "I'm—sorry."
The other shook his head.
"Don't say that. It's not true. I'd hate it to be true—anyway."
Gordon's face lit.
"You're—going to pay it?"
"Sure. I'm not going to have our name stink in our home city. Sure I'm going to pay it. But——"
"But—what?"
"So are you."