He said it with an air, even with something of the old flourish, and Comethup was considerably impressed. After some silence, Mr. Robert Carlaw got up, with a sigh, and turned toward his nephew and held out his hand. "This has done me good," he said. "I come into your fresh, buoyant, rich young life; I touch again the things that might have been; I renew, as it were, my youth. Our paths lie in different directions; you sweep along the broad highway, and the dust--yes, the dust--of your chariot wheels shall be flung over me as I walk. That is fate, that is life. Good-bye!" He took his nephew's hand in both his own for a moment, sighed heavily, and turned away. In less than a minute he was back again. There was hesitation in his manner and he shifted his feet uneasily, yet he spoke with a desperate boldness. "My dear friend, I--I have put off what I have to say--put it off in the hope that I might not have to say it. My courage deserts me; it is not easy for a man who has carried his head high before his fellows to lower it and to beg. Do not misunderstand me," he added hastily, "'tis not for myself; if it were for myself the petition should never be urged. It is for another--it is for my son. Comethup, it is necessary, in order that we may get our affairs somewhat straight, that we should leave this city. My son has money, but he needs it for his work--he may even need it for food. Can I go to him and say to him--can I, his father, say it to him, 'Brian, I am penniless; I have not sufficient money to bear me to my native land'? This may seem a mere matter of cowardice; but, broken and outcast though I am, I would still carry myself well in the eyes of my son; I would still have him say, 'This is my father, of whom I am proud, and who has never shamed me yet.' It is, I think, a natural thought, a natural wish. Frankly, as man to man, will you help me to do that?" Comethup felt that, under the circumstances, there was but one thing to be done. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out the money his aunt had given him. "How much would you want, sir?" he asked slowly. "Well, to be businesslike, may I say ten pounds?" Comethup was rather glad he wanted no more, because the loss of that sum would still leave something in his own pockets so that it might not be necessary for him to apply to his aunt. He handed Mr. Robert Carlaw the amount specified, and Mr. Carlaw shook hands with him many times and blessed him, and finally walked away with a jaunty step. Comethup dined sparingly, and wandered about the city for the greater part of the day. He returned to the hotel in the evening, and found his aunt sitting alone; he was informed that she had asked if he had returned several times during the day.