McClintock laughed shortly, but made no answer, and for the rest of the morning Clarence dogged his steps in the hope that the quarrel would be continued under more favorable circumstances. In this he was disappointed. Branyon had been induced to go home for repairs, and had left the yards immediately after the trouble occurred, with a wet handkerchief held gingerly to a mashed and bloody nose. His fellows had not shown the sympathy he felt they should have shown under the circumstances. They told him he had had enough, and that it was well to stop with that. Dan hurried up-town to the hotel. He found his father in his room, seated before an open window in his shirt-sleeves, and with his Bible in his lap. He glanced up from the book as his son pushed open the door. “Well, Dannie?” he said, and his tones were mild, meditative, and inquiring. “I was looking for you, father. They told me you'd come up-town.” “So I did; as soon as I heard there was going to be trouble over my working in the shops I left.” “Did they say anything to you?” “Not a word, Dannie, but I knew what was coming, and quit work.” “You shouldn't have done it, daddy,” said Dan, seating himself on the edge of the bed near the old man. “I can't let them say who shall work in the shops and who not. The whole business was trumped up out of revenge for the cut. They want to get even with me for _that_, you see. If I back down and yield this point, there is no telling what they'll ask next--probably that the wages be restored to the old figure.” He spoke quite cheerfully, for he saw his father was cruelly hurt. “It was all a mistake, Dannie--my coming to you, I mean,” Roger Oakley said, shutting the book reverently and laying it to one side. “The world's a small place, after all, and we should have known we couldn't keep our secret. It's right I should bear my own cross, but it's not your sin, and now it presses hardest on you. I'm sorry, Dannie--” and his voice shook with the emotion he was striving to hide. “No, no, father. To have you here has been a great happiness to me.” “Has it, Dannie? has it really?” with a quick smile. “I am glad you can say so, for it's been a great happiness to me--greater than I deserved,” and he laid a big hand caressingly on his son's. “We must go ahead, daddy, as if nothing had happened. If we let this hurt us, we'll end by losing all our courage.” “It's been a knock-out blow for me, Dannie,” with a wistful sadness, “and I've got to go away. It's best for you I should. I've gone in one direction and you've gone another. You can't reconcile opposites. I've been thinking of this a good deal. You're young, and got your life ahead of you, and you'll do big things before you're done, and people will forget I can't drag you down just because I happen to be your father and love you. Why, I'm of a different class even, but I can't go on. I'm just as I am, and I can't change myself.”