Bill, on the other hand, was not in the least brilliant, and he had to work hard to get his lessons, and they went with different crowds of fellows.
"Their father, as I told you, was rich, and he was also indulgent.

He gave the boys a larger allowance of spending money than was good for them.

There was never a month, however, that Tom did not go to Bill and borrow some of his, and even then Tom was always in debt.

Bill knew it was the gay company Tom kept, and warned him against it, but Tom would laugh it off and say that a fellow in the upper classes had to keep up his end, as Bill would learn later.
"What Bill did learn later was that Tom had become an inveterate gambler, and had lost his money at cards, and went away from college leaving many debts unpaid.
"The father of the boys was a manufacturer, and was also president of the bank in the little city where they lived.

A bank is a place where other people's money is kept for them, and whenever the people who keep money there need any, they come and get what they need.