"As for getting the other man's money," the professor continued, unheeding, "that is merely incidental. We feel better, it's true, when we win, but that is for another reason. It has nothing to do with the game—keeping his money. The other man can keep his money—or, as far as the game is concerned, I would give it back to him—for all the happiness it brings him or would bring me. The distinction which I mean to draw is a little subtle, but I flatter myself that you can appreciate it."
He looked at her and she nodded. The tears still stood in her eyes.
"Happiness, Sally," he resumed, absently gazing at the wall, "is—but you probably do not care for my views on the subject of happiness," he said, interrupting himself and glancing at her with a smile. The smile was rather pleasant to contemplate; a thing sufficiently remarkable—for him. "Probably you think I am better qualified to tell you what it is not than what it is; how to avoid it than how to get it. I can give advice, but I cannot follow it."
Sally smiled quickly. "Your views are interesting," she said. She stirred a little. She did not know how he would take what she was about to say. "You would—would you feel hurt, father, if I should offer you an allowance?"
A quarter of an hour before, he would not have felt hurt or embarrassed in the least. In fact, that was the very thing he had come there for. At the moment, it was different. A flush crept into his face slowly.
"Why should I feel hurt?" His voice had changed. It had lost that intimate quality which it had had during the last few minutes, when he had been on the point of telling Sally about happiness. "It is Uncle John's money, I suppose? Why should I feel any compunctions about taking it? And—er—there are conditions incident to the acceptance of this—er—this gift, I suppose?"
"I'm afraid there are," she replied; "at least, tacitly understood."
He considered for a few moments. "I think," he said then, "that it will conduce to happiness, on the whole, if we are not too tacit about those conditions. What are they?"
"I hoped," she answered gently, "that you would not insist on my repeating them. You must understand, from what I have said, what they are."
"I prefer that they should be stated as conditions."