suddenly touched his, and then the monsters that had imprisoned
him rushed in and drove her away and prodded him with hot
needles until he tossed about in pain. Then came the voyage home
on the transport, and she His thoughts were interrupted by
some one rapping at his door, and in answer to his summons a
young man of about thirty years entered the room.
“Ralph La Fere!” cried Bob. “You of all men. What are you
doing here ? Glad to see you, old man; take a chair.”
“Came down to visit my uncle, Prof. Carter, and to see the old
place where I acquired my wisdom,” replied La Fere. “Heavens,
man! why are you not enjoying yourself?”
“Luck or fate or both are against me,” answered Bob. “Here’s
a letter from my father that might amuse you.”
Ralph took the letter and read.
Dear Sir:—Your president has informed me that you have fail
ed in elementary mechanics and chemistry. To say that I am anger
ed would be putting it too mild. You have evidently been wasting
your time over literature and such trash and you are now reap
ing the harvest. Literature is all right for women, but men should
not bother with it, they have enough to do keeping track of the
markets.
From the time that you were a mere boy I have been training
you to take my place at the head of the great business which I
have built up. When you graduated from the high school I was
thunder-struck that you should want to go to college and waste
your time in a literary course. I offered to give you a course in
engineering and you refused. You went into newspaper work and
like a fool went to Cuba as a correspondent when the war broke
out. After the war Miss Marie La Fere and I apparently man
aged to drum some common sense into you, and you accepted
my offer of a technical education. I now see the reason of your
acceptance, you simply wanted to loaf, to live off of my money.
You have wasted, squandered your time. What are you now ? A
failure pure and simple.
From henceforth my house shall no longer be your home. I