"I'm paying for it now and you will pay a higher price, if you go on as you promise.

You must pull up; I've done enough and am getting tired of self-denial." Gerald's smile faded.

He had inherited his extravagance from his father, but felt he must be cautious, although Osborn sometimes showed him a forbearance he used to nobody else.
"I'm sorry, sir," he said.

"Perhaps I was extravagant, but if you don't want to be an outsider, you must do like the rest, and I understood you expected me to make friends among our own set.

We can't be shabby." He struck the right note, for Osborn was not clever and perhaps his strongest characteristic was his exaggerated family pride.
"You had enough and I paid your debts not long since," he said.