and I have not brought you up to count them either.  Do not gamble at cards any more than you can help, but if you lose and must borrow, borrow of me.  When I think you are going too far, I will tell you so.  But do not count upon me for any help in this scheme of yours.  You will not get it.  If you find yourself in a commercial scrape, find your own way out of it.  If you want better advice than mine, go to San Giacinto.  He will give you a practical man’s view of the case.”

“You are frank, at all events,” said Orsino, turning from the window and facing his father.

“Most of us are in this house,” answered Sant’ Ilario.  “That will make it all the harder for you to deal with the scoundrels who call themselves men of business.”

“I mean to try this, father,” said the young man.  “I will go and see San Giacinto, as you suggest, and I will ask his opinion.  But if he discourages me I will try my luck all the same.  I cannot lead this life any longer.  I want an occupation and I will make one for myself.”

“It is not an occupation that you want, Orsino.  It is another excitement.  That is all.  If you want an occupation, study, learn something, find out what work means.  Or go to Saracinesca and build houses for the peasants—­you will do no harm there, at all events.  Go and drain that land in Lombardy—­I can do nothing with it and would sell it if I could.  But that is not what you want.  You want an excitement for the hours of the morning.  Very well.  You will probably find more of it than you like.  Try it, that is all I have to say.”

Like many very just men Giovanni could state a case with alarming unfairness when thoroughly convinced that he was right.  Orsino stood still for a moment and then walked towards the door without another word.  His father called him back.

“What is it?” asked Orsino coldly.

Sant’ Ilario held out his hand with a kindly look in his eyes.

“I do not want you to think that I am angry, my boy.  There is to be no ill feeling between us about this.”

“None whatever,” said the young man, though without much alacrity, as he shook hands with his father.  “I see you are not angry.  You do not understand me, that is all.”

He went out, more disappointed with the result of the interview than he had expected, though he had not looked forward to receiving any encouragement.  He had known very well what his father’s views were but he had not foreseen that he would be so much irritated by the expression of them.  His determination hardened and he resolved that nothing should hinder him.  But he was both willing and ready to consult San Giacinto, and went to the latter’s house immediately on leaving Sant’ Ilario’s study.

As for Giovanni, he was dimly conscious that he had made a mistake, though he did not care to acknowledge it.  He was a good horseman and he was aware that he would have used a very different method with a restive colt.  But few men are wise enough to see that there is only one universal principle to follow in the exertion of strength, moral or physical; and instead of seeking analogies out of actions familiar to them as a means of accomplishing the unfamiliar, they try to discover new theories of motion at every turn and are led farther and farther from the right line by their own desire to reach the end quickly.