Basil and Annette. Farjeon Benjamin Leopold

this be the last time," said the father sternly.

      "It shall be, it shall be!" murmured the son.

      It was a formula. The father may sometimes have deceived himself into belief; the son, never. Even while he was humbling himself he would be casting about for the next throw.

      This continued for some considerable time, but at length came the crash. Chaytor and his parents were seated at breakfast at nine o'clock. The father had the morning letters in his pocket; he had read them and put them by. He cast but one glance at his son, and Chaytor turned pale and winced. He saw that the storm was about to burst. As usual, nothing was said before Mrs. Chaytor. The meal was over, she kissed her son, and left the room to attend to her domestic affairs.

      "I must be off," said Chaytor. "Mustn't be late this morning. A lot to attend to at the office."

      "You need not hurry," said the father. "I have something to say to you."

      "Won't it keep till the evening?"

      "No. It must be said here and now." He stepped to the door and locked it. "We will spare her as long as possible; she will know soon enough."

      "Oh, all right," said Chaytor sullenly. "Fire away."

      The father took out his letters, and, selecting one, handed it to his son who read it, shivered, and returned it.

      "What have you to say to it?" asked the father.

      "Nothing. It is only for three hundred pounds."

      "A bill, due to-day, which I did not sign."

      "It was done for all our sakes, to save the honour of the family name. I was in a hole and there was no other way of getting out of it."

      "The bill must be taken up before twelve o'clock."

      "Will it be?"

      "It will, for your mother's sake."

      "Then there is nothing more to be said. I am very sorry, but it could not be helped. I promise that it shall never occur again. I'll take my oath of it if you like."

      "I take neither your word nor your oath. You are a scoundrel."

      "Here, draw it mild. I am your son."

      "Unhappily. If your mother were not living you should be shown into the dock for the forgery."

      "But she is alive. I shall not appear in the dock, and you may as well let me go. Look here, father, what's the use of crying over spilt milk?"

      "Not much; and as I look upon you as hopeless, I would go on paying for it while your mother lived. If she were taken from me I should leave you to the punishment you deserve, and risk my name being dragged through the mire."

      "I hope," said Chaytor, with vile sanctimoniousness, "that my dear mother will live till she is a hundred."

      "There is, I must remind you, another side to the shield. I said 'as long as I can afford it.'"

      "Well, you can afford it."

      "I cannot," said Mr. Chaytor, with a sour smile. "My career snaps to-day, after paying this forged bill with money that properly belongs to my creditors. Newman Chaytor, you have come to the end of your tether."

      "You are saying this to frighten me," said Chaytor, affecting an indifference he did not feel. "Why, you are rolling in money."

      "You are mistaken. Speculations into which I have entered have failed disastrously. If you had not robbed me to the tune of thousands of pounds-the sum total of your villainies amounts to that-I might have weathered the storm, but as I am situated it is impossible. It is almost a triumph to me to stand here before you a ruined man, knowing you can no longer rob me."

      "Still I do not believe you," said Chaytor.

      "Wait and see; you will not have to wait long."

      The tone in which he uttered this carried conviction with it.

      "Do you know what you have done?" cried Chaytor furiously. "You have ruined me!"

      "What!" responded Mr. Chaytor, with savage sarcasm. "Is there any more of this kind of paper floating about?" Chaytor bit his lips, and his fingers twitched nervously, but he did not reply. "If there is be advised, and prepare for it. In the list of my liabilities, which is now being prepared, there will be no place for them. How should there be, when I am in ignorance of your prospective villainies. Do you see now to what you have brought me?"

      "Do you see to what you have brought me?" exclaimed Chaytor in despair. "Why did you not tell me of it months ago?"

      "Because I hoped by other speculations to set myself straight. But everything has gone wrong-everything. Understand, I cannot trouble myself about your affairs; I have enough to do with my own. I have one satisfaction; your mother will not suffer."

      "How is that?"

      "The settlement I made upon her in the days of my prosperity is hers absolutely, and only she can deal with it. In the settlement of my business there shall be no sentimental folly; I will see to that. Her money shall not go to pay my debts.

      "But it shall go," thought Chaytor, with secret joy, "to get me out of the scrape I am in. It belongs to me by right. I will see that neither you nor your creditors tamper with it." He breathed more freely; he could still defy the world.

      "I have not told you quite all," continued Mr. Chaytor. "Here is a letter from Messrs. Rivington, Sons, and Rivington, advising me that it will be better for all parties that you do not make your appearance in their office. Indeed, the place you occupied there is already filled up."

      "Do they give any reason for it?" asked Chaytor, inwardly not greatly astonished at his dismissal.

      "None; nor shall I ask any questions of them or you. You know how the land lies. Good morning."

      He unlocked the door, and left the house. This was just what Chaytor desired. His vicious mind was quick in expedients; his mother was his shield and his anchor. Her settlement would serve for many a long day yet. To her he went, and related his troubles in his own way. She gave him, as usual, her fullest sympathy, and promised all he asked.

      "Between ourselves, mother," he said.

      "Yes, my darling, between ourselves."

      "Father must not know. He was always hard on me. He thinks he can manage everybody's affairs, but he cannot manage his own." Then he disclosed to her his father's difficulties. "If he had allowed me to manage for him it would not have happened. Trust everything to me, mother, and this day year I will treble your little fortune for you. Let me have a chance for once. When I have made all our fortunes you shall go to him and say, 'See what Newman has done for us.'"

      "It shall be exactly as you say, darling. You are the best, the handsomest, the cleverest son a foolish mother ever had."

      Kisses and caresses sealed the bargain. Within twenty-four hours he knew that everything his father had told him was true. The family were ruined, and but for Mrs. Chaytor's private fortune would have been utterly beggared. They moved into a smaller house and practised economy. Little by little Chaytor received and squandered every shilling his mother possessed, and before the year was out the sun rose upon a ship beating on the rocks.

      "Are you satisfied?" asked his father, from whom Chaytor's doings could no longer be concealed.

      "Satisfied!" cried Chaytor, trembling in every limb. "When your insane speculations have ruined us!"

      Then he fell into a chair and began to sob. He had the best of reasons for tribulation. With his mind's eye he saw the prison doors open to receive him. It was not shame that made him suffer; it was fear.

      Again, and for the last time, he went to his mother for help.

      "What can I do, my boy?" quavered the poor woman. "What can I do? I haven't a shilling in the world."

      He implored her to go to his father. "He can save me," cried the terror-stricken wretch. "He can, he can!"

      She obeyed him and the father sent for his son.

      "Tell me all," he said. "Conceal nothing, or, as there is a heaven above us, I leave you to your fate."

      The