"What! Don't preach, Hank. Responsibilities! Why, I'll throw them over
my shoulder like a twine string. But let me tell you something.
There's one thing I'm not going to allow--they shan't say a word
against that old man. Oh, I know the trouble and grief he brought
about, but by gracious, he had a cause. If--if--mother didn't love
him, why did she say that if he didn't love her she would go away
somewhere and grieve herself to death? That was no way to treat a
fellow, especially a fellow that loves you like the mischief. And
besides, why did father cut him out? Pretty mean thing for a man to
slip around and steal his brother's sweetheart. In this country it
would mean blood."

"You are a jewel, my boy."

"No, I'm simply just. Of course, two wrongs don't make a right, as the
saying has it, but a wrong with a cause is half-way right, and I'll
tell them at the very start that they better not talk about the
matter. In fact, I told them so in the letter. You've had a pretty
hard time of it, haven't you, Hank?"

"I shouldn't want an enemy's dog to have a harder one," DeGolyer
answered.

"But you've got a good education."

"So has the hog that picks up cards and tells the time of day," said
DeGolyer, "but what good does that do him? He has to work harder than
other hogs, and is kept hungry so that he may perform with more
sprightliness. But if I have a good education, my boy, I stole it, and