That had been his one joy for forty years, and it was still his joy.
And then he fell to thinking of his nephew, the only son of his brother, whom he had once loved, before he lost himself in publishing books and making money, and sighed.

He had been attached to the lad in his own coarse way, and it was a blow to him to cut himself loose from him.

But Eustace had defied him, and--what was worse--he had told him the truth, which he, of all men, could not bear.

He had said that his system of trade was dishonest, that he took more than his due, and it was so.

He knew it; but he could not tolerate that it should be told him, and that his whole life should thereby be discredited, and even his accumulated gold tarnished--stamped as ill-gotten; least of all could he bear it from his dependent.