“I can see nothing in all this, Mr. Hodder, but a species of insanity,” said Eldon Parr, and there crept into his tone both querulousness and intense exasperation.  “In the first place, you insist upon marrying my daughter when neither she nor you have any dependable means of support.  She never spared her criticisms of me, and you presume to condemn me, a man who, if he has neglected his children, has done so because he has spent too much of his time in serving his community and his country, and who has—­if I have to say it myself—­built up the prosperity which you and others are doing your best to tear down, and which can only result in the spread of misery.  You profess to have a sympathy with the masses, but you do not know them as I do.  They cannot control themselves, they require a strong hand.  But I am not asking for your sympathy.  I have been misunderstood all my life, I have become used to ingratitude, even from my children, and from the rector of the church for which I have done more than any other man.”

Hodder stared at him in amazement.

“You really believe that!” he exclaimed.

“Believe it!” Eldon Parr repeated.  “I have had my troubles, as heavy bereavements as a man can have.  All of them, even this of my son’s death, all the ingratitude and lack of sympathy I have experienced—­” (he looked deliberately at Hodder) “have not prevented me, do not prevent me to-day from regarding my fortune as a trust.  You have deprived St. John’s, at least so long as you remain there, of some of its benefits, and the responsibility for that is on your own head.  And I am now making arrangements to give to Calvary the settlement house which St. John’s should have had.”

The words were spoken with such an air of conviction, of unconscious plausibility, as it were, that it was impossible for Hodder to doubt the genuineness of the attitude they expressed.  And yet it was more than his mind could grasp . . . .  Horace Bentley, Richard Garvin, and the miserable woman of the streets whom he had driven to destroy herself had made absolutely no impression whatever!  The gifts, the benefactions of Eldon Parr to his fellow-men would go on as before!

“You ask me why I sent for you,” the banker went on.  “It was primarily because I hoped to impress upon you the folly of marrying my daughter.  And in spite of all the injury and injustice you have done me, I do not forget that you were once in a relationship to me which has been unique in my life.  I trusted you, I admired you, for your ability, for your faculty of getting on with men.  At that time you were wise enough not to attempt to pass comment upon accidents in business affairs which are, if deplorable, inevitable.”

Eldon Parr’s voice gave a momentary sign of breaking.