"Then you think it would be all right--in case Neergard likes the idea?"
Gerald was enthusiastic. After a while they shook hands, it being time
to separate. And for a long time Selwyn sat there alone in the visitors'
room, absent-eyed, facing the blazing fire of cannel coal.
How to be friends with this boy without openly playing the mentor; how
to gain his confidence without appearing to seek it; how to influence
him without alarming him! No; there was no great harm in him yet; only
the impulse of inconsiderate youth; only an enthusiastic capacity for
pleasure.
One thing was imperative--the boy must cut out his card-playing for
stakes at once; and there was a way to accomplish that by impressing
Gerald with the idea that to do anything behind Neergard's back which he
would not care to tell him about was a sort of treachery.
Who were these people, anyway, who would permit a boy of that age, and
in a responsible position, to play for such stakes? Who were they to
encourage such--?
Selwyn's tightening grasp on his chair suddenly relaxed; he sank back,
staring at the brilliant coals.
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