Evening star., 1923-04-22
He Deu1t ;n Fa,rc1;es, But Paid
IN Cold, Hard Cash His Own
Es1th1y Obligations of Honor

him with countless forms and inhibi-
lions.
He was rigidly, tensely repressed,
but this repression partook Of some
thing Of the quality of a steel spring,
hever yet released. but always ready
and waiting. And in his heart there
were three renegade ambitions: One
OF them was to play on the Harvard
foot ball team; one was to compose
musical comedies which would make
him rich; and the third was eventu-
ally to see the world, and, in par
ticular. France.
In his seventeenth year, however.
Nelson's fathers business failed, al
most overnight. and this disaster,
naturally enough, affected Nelson's
whole life; but for the moment 1t
meant primarily that he was to take
no more music lessons. and that IL
he were to go to college at all he
should have to work his way through.
He did 1t, and he took honors. but
there was no time to play foot ball.
and there was no time to make
friends.
Just as he graduated his father
died, so Nelson went to work at the
note desk of the Messina National
Bank. He had Il mother. two sisters
and a younger brother to support
Furthermore. his fathers debts were
lowering over his pride. He had
never understood his father. but he
had been proud OF him; and now he
was bitterly jealous of his faith and
credit.
III live long enough he said to
the cashier of the bank. I'm go
ing to pay off every cent Of it,
The cashier put his hand on Nell
sons shoulder. You don't owe US
anything. And you couldn't pay of
tho whole wad of it in a hundred
years. You got moren you can do
to take care of your folks" And
this was genuinely stole, because the
cashier had personally loaned the
elder Nelson four thousand dollars
without security.
That's all right said Nelson,
tight-lipped, You just give me
time, Mr.. Miller-you just give me
time"
The cashier smiled indulgently.
We'll. then, tell you what you
do, Eddie. Pay me last. Because 1
was pretty close to being your dads
best friend. -
AT twenty-three. Nelson had put on
"A a coating of responsibility which
resisted all weathers.
Neither of his sisters had married.
and his mother observed mournfully
that Nelson didn't seem to be getting
along very well. So that Nelson shut
his lips a little tighter and worked
little harder. and, in consequence.
went from the note desk to the re-
ceiving teller's window and thence to
the paying teller's: and when Mr..
Miller resigned to go into business
for himself Nelson became cashier.
At this stage a great trust company
in New York happened to hear OF
him. and Nelson was beckoned down
into Wall street.
When he was thirty Nelson
was second vice president of the
Gibraltar Trust Company, and he had
cleared his patronymic OF every
penny which had been marked
against H. ne Hd0 SCI up d lIuSl
fund which guaranteed his mother
and his two acidulous sisters for life.
He had put his brother through
Tech, and bought him a partnership
in promising firm OF engineers.
And then Nelson was Independent.
He was an important man in a vast
institution, and outside of it: and
outside Of it's clientele he hadn't
friend in the world.
And a month after he had written
the last check to his fathers memory
the president Of the Gibraltar Trust
said to him: ED, you're not looking
so awfully fit. Now the Paris
branch needs little supervision, and
you could give it an hour or two a
day, and loaf the rest Of the time, for
about four months; and then put in
the next eight months just bumming
around Europe. So I'm going to send
you over for a year"
x *
AS Nelson passed over the last cleat
"A OF the gangplank he had faint
hutter which was q decade and
half overdue. As he unpacked he
WAS suddenly aware Of himself in q
small mirror; and he beamed, mod
erately, at his own image, and forgot
that he was the coolest proposition
in Wall street, and that his hair was
graying about the temples. France.
which for several years had regis
tered upon him only as a country in
which the Gibraltar Trust had a
branch office, suddenly resumed at
least q faint glimmer Of it's former
illusiveness.
The ship was a one-class steamer
OF the French line; 1t wasn't fashion
able. but 1t was fast and II was COM
Portable, and furthermore, in June, no
other booking had been available.
At the first view OF the promenade
deck the impression he gathered was
that all the world. except himself.
was twenty. and gloriously irrespon-
eible.
tinued to fuctuate between opposite
moods. At times he was imagina-
lively stirred by what was ahead OF
him. and during such moments as
these he was vaguely wistful and
lonely, when he watched the skylark-
ing; but at other times, when habit
clanked the shackles, he told himself
that young people were an Internal
nuisance.
The third day, which was sweep
ingly blue and golden. brought him
out Of his berth with a bound. 1t
was not yet o'clock when he had
breakfasted and was out on deck with
b. good cigar and a good conscience.
He was just outside the salon, and
he went In. The salon was utterly