emotional disturbance, and he added hastily: "And, for the love
of heaven, give Sadie five dollars. I borrowed it from her to pay
the taxi'. You see, Dad, I'm broke."

"Of course!" With the saying, Edward Gilder roared Gargantuan
laughter. In the burst of merriment, his pent feelings found
their vent. He was still chuckling when he spoke, sage from much
experience of ocean travel. "Poker on the ship, I suppose."

The young man, too, smiled reminiscently as he answered:

"No, not that, though I did have a little run in at Monte Carlo.
But it was the ship that finished me, at that. You see, Dad,
they hired Captain Kidd and a bunch of pirates as stewards, and
what they did to little Richard was something fierce. And yet,
that wasn't the real trouble, either. The fact is, I just
naturally went broke. Not a hard thing to do on the other side."

"Nor on this," the father interjected, dryly.

"Anyhow, it doesn't matter much," Dick replied, quite unabashed.
"Tell me, Dad, how goes it?"

Gilder settled himself again in his chair, and gazed benignantly
on his son.

"Pretty well," he said contentedly; "pretty well, son. I'm glad
to see you home again, my boy." There was a great tenderness in
the usually rather cold gray eyes.