 Gertrude. But I feel considerable anxiety about
Clifford. I will tell you another time.«
    The next time he gave Felix a sitting his nephew reminded him that he had
taken him into his confidence. »How is Clifford today?« Felix asked. »He has
always seemed to me a young man of remarkable discretion. Indeed, he is only too
discreet; he seems on his guard against me - as if he thought me rather light
company. The other day he told his sister - Gertrude repeated it to me - that I
was always laughing at him. If I laugh it is simply from the impulse to try and
inspire him with confidence. That is the only way I have.«
    »Clifford's situation is no laughing matter,« said Mr. Wentworth. »It is
very peculiar, as I suppose you have guessed.«
    »Ah, you mean his love affair with his cousin?«
    Mr. Wentworth stared, blushing a little. »I mean his absence from college.
He has been suspended. We have decided not to speak of it unless we are asked.«
    »Suspended?« Felix repeated.
    »He has been requested by the Harvard authorities to absent himself for six
months. Meanwhile he is studying with Mr. Brand. We think Mr. Brand will help
him; at least we hope so.«
    »What befell him at college?« Felix asked. »He was too fond of pleasure? Mr.
Brand certainly will not teach him any of those secrets!«
    »He was too fond of something of which he should not have been fond. I
suppose it is considered a pleasure.«
    Felix gave his light laugh. »My dear uncle, is there any doubt about its
being a pleasure? C'est de son âge, as they say in France.«
    »I should have said rather it was a vice of later life - of disappointed old
age.«
    Felix glanced at his uncle, with his lifted eyebrows, and then, »Of what are
you speaking?« he demanded, smiling.
    »Of the situation in which Clifford was found.«
    »Ah, he was found - he was caught?«
    »Necessarily, he was caught. He couldn't walk; he staggered.«
    »Oh,« said Felix, »he drinks! I rather suspected that, from something I
observed the first day I came here. I quite agree with you that it is a low
taste. It's not a vice for a gentleman. He ought to give it up.«
