"Are you going to give up the office you opened in Granville?" "Not just yet. But I may in the future--after the office here is in full blast. I expect to make a big thing of the business here." "A big business here means the investment of a lot of money," said the boy shrewdly. "Where is that to come from?" "Never mind about the money. It will be forthcoming as it is needed." "Is my mother going to let you have some of her money?" "If she did, it would be no more than right that she should depend upon her husband in her investments." "I wouldn't advise her to depend upon you. With your own money you can do as you please, but I don't think you ought to touch any of her funds." "You are decidedly plain-spoken, boy!" cried James Talbot, frowning. "Because one must speak plainly to such a man as you, Mr. Talbot. I don't know why my mother married you, but I think I know why you married my mother." "And why?" "To get hold of her money." James Talbot leaped from the chair upon which he had been sitting. He was enraged, but quickly calmed himself. "You are entirely mistaken, boy, entirely mistaken. Why, I have all the money I want." "I saw you borrow fifty dollars from my mother once." "Merely a bit of accommodation because I didn't have the cash handy. Why I can draw my check for twenty or thirty thousand dollars if I wish to." Robert did not believe the statement. Yet as he had no way to disprove it, he remained silent on the point. "Then you are going to use your own money entirely in this real estate venture in Chicago?" "Well--er--most likely. Of course I may become pushed for ready cash at times and will then look to your mother to help me out a little. Every man, no matter how well off, gets pushed at times, when he cannot turn his securities into ready cash, you know." "I shall advise my mother to keep her fortune in her own hands." "You will!" James Talbot became more enraged than ever. "Don't you dare to interfere between my wife and myself." "I will do all I can to keep her money out of your reach." "Perhaps you want it yourself?" sneered Talbot. "No, I want her to keep it and enjoy it as long as she lives. I don't believe you are any kind of a business manager, and if she put the money in your care she might be a beggar in a year or two." "Boy, boy, this to me! me, your father!" cried Talbot. "You are not my father, Mr. Talbot, and you need not call yourself such. My father was a far better man than you are, I can tell you that. He made his own way in the world, just as I am trying to do, and ask no favors from anybody." "You are impertinent--a thorough good-for-nothing!" howled James Talbot, hardly knowing what to say. "I want to do you a kindness, and this is the way you receive me. I will not speak to you longer. But don't you dare to set my wife against me, or there will be trouble, mind that--there will be trouble!"