"
Gerald strove to smile; for a while he lay loosely in the arm-chair, his
listless eyes intent on the strange, dim light which fell across the
waste of sea fog. Only the water along the shore's edge remained
visible; all else was a blank wall behind which, stretching to the
horizon, lay the unseen ocean. Already a few restless gulls were on the
wing, sheering inland; and their raucous, treble cries accented the
pallid stillness.
But the dawn was no paler than the boy's face--no more desolate. Trouble
was his, the same old trouble that has dogged the trail of folly since
time began; and Selwyn knew it and waited.
At last the boy broke out: "This is a cowardly trick--this slinking in
to you with all my troubles after what you've done for me--after the
rotten way I've treated you--"
"Look here, my boy!" said Selwyn coolly, crossing one knee over the
other and dropping both hands into the pockets of his pajamas--"I asked
you to come to me, didn't I? Well, then; don't criticise my judgment in
doing it.
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