“I believe you would,” and the confession surprised the man himself more than it did Patsy. “Who are you?” he asked at last.
“No one at all, just; a laggard by the roadside—a lass with no home, no kin, and that for a fortune,” and she flung out her two empty hands, palm uppermost, and laughed.
“And you are audacious enough to think you are richer than I.” This time there was no sneer in his voice, only an amused toleration.
“I am,” said Patsy, simply.
“You have youth and health,” he conceded, grudgingly.
“Aye, and trust in other folks; that’s a fearfully rich possession.”
“It is. I might exchange with you—all this,” and his hand swept encompassingly over his great estate, “for that last—trust in other folks—in one’s own folks!”
“Maybe I’d give it to you for nothing—a little of it at any rate. See, you trust me; and here’s—trust in your son.” Patsy’s voice dropped to a whisper; she leaned forward and opened one of the sick man’s hands, then folded the fingers tightly over something that appeared to be invisible—and precious. “Now, you believe in him, no matter what he’s done; you believe he wouldn’t wrong you or himself by doing anything base; you believe that he is coming back to you—to break the loneliness, and that he’ll find a poor, plain man for a father, waiting him. Don’t you remember the prodigal lad—how his father saw him a long way off and went to meet him? Well, you can meet him with a long-distance trust—understanding. And there’s one thing more; don’t you be so blind or so foolish as to crush him with the weight of ‘all this.’ Mind, he has the right to the making of his own life—for a bit at least; and it’s your privilege to give him that right—somehow. You’ve still a chance to keep him from wanting to pitch your money for quoits off the Battery.”
Patsy sprang to her feet; but Burgeman senior had reached forward quickly and caught her skirt, holding it in a marvelously firm grip. “Then you do know who I am; you’ve known it all along.”
“I know you’re the master of all this, and your lad is the Rich Man’s Son; that’s all.”