"Forgive me," he said, in broken words; "I--I meant not to taunt you.

I am but a giddy boy!--send me to school!--do with me as you will!" "Ay," said the old man, shaking his head gently, "you know not what pain a son's bitter word can send to a parent's heart.

But it is all natural, perfectly natural! You would reproach me with a love of money, it is the sin to which youth is the least lenient.

But what! can I look round the world and not see its value, its necessity?
Year after year, from my first manhood, I have toiled and toiled to preserve from the hammer these last remnants of my ancestor's remains.

Year after year fortune has slipped from my grasp; and, after all my efforts, and towards the close of a long life, I stand on the very verge of penury.