"Have I been one of those interfering, pragmatical fathers who cannot let
their children enjoy themselves their own way?"

"No, sir; you have never interfered, except to pay for anything I
wanted."

"Then make the one return in your power, young man: have a little faith
in such a father, and believe that he does not interfere now but for your
good, and under a stern necessity; and that when he does interfere for
once, and say, 'This thing shall not be,' it shall not be--by Heaven!"

Alfred was overpowered by the weight and solemnity of this. Sorrow,
vexation, and despondency all rushed into his heart together, and
unmanned him for a moment; he buried his face in his hands, and something
very like a sob burst from his young heart. At this Hardie senior took up
the newspaper with imperturbable coldness, and wore a slight curl of the
lip. All this was hardly genuine, for he was not altogether unmoved; but
he was a man of rare self-command, and chose to impress on Alfred that he
was no more to be broken or melted than a mere rock.

It is always precarious to act a part; and this cynicism was rather able
than wise: Alfred looked up and watched him keenly as he read the
monetary article with tranquil interest; and then, for the first time in
his life, it flashed into the young man's mind that his father was not a
father. "I never knew him till now," thought he. "This man is [Greek
text]."*

*Without bowels of affection.

Thus a gesture, so to speak, sowed the first seed of downright disunion