The Third Degree: A Narrative of Metropolitan LifeKlein, Charles
General
The Third Degree: A Narrative of Metropolitan Life
Klein, Charles
City and town life -- Fiction
Reading, attendance at lectures, became only a convenient cloak to
conceal his turpitudes. Poker playing, automobile joy rides, hard
drinking became the daily curriculum. In town rows and orgies of every
description he was soon a recognized leader. Scandal followed scandal
until he was threatened with expulsion. Then his father heard of it and
there was a terrible scene. Jeffries, Sr., went immediately to New
Haven and there followed a stormy interview in which Howard promised to
reform, but once the parent's back was turned things went on pretty much
as before. There were fresh scandals, the smoke of which reached as far
as New York. This time Mr. Jeffries tried the plan of cutting down the
money supply and Howard found himself financially embarrassed. But this
had not quite the effect desired by the father, for, rendered desperate
by his inability to secure funds with which to carry on his sprees, the
young man started in to gamble heavily, giving notes for his losses and
pocketing the ready money when he won.
Then came the supreme scandal which turned his father's heart to steel.
Jeffries, Sr., could forgive much in a young man. He had been young
himself once. None knew better than he how difficult it is when the
blood is rich and red to keep oneself in control. But there was one
offence which a man proud of his descent could not condone. He would
never forgive the staining of the family name by a degrading marriage.
The news came to the unhappy father like a thunder-clap. Howard,
probably in a drunken spree, had married secretly a waitress employed in
one of the "sporty" restaurants in New Haven, and to make the
mesalliance worse, the girl was not even of respectable parents. Her
father, Billy Delmore, the pool-room king, was a notorious gambler and
had died in convict stripes. Fine sensation that for the yellow press.
"Banker's Son Weds Convict's Daughter." So ran the "scare heads" in the
newspapers. That was the last straw for Mr. Jeffries, Sr. He sternly
told his son that he never wanted to look upon his face again. Howard
bowed his head to the decree and he had never seen his father since.
All this the young man was reviewing in his mind when suddenly his
reflections were disturbed by a friendly hail.
"Hello, Jeffries, old sport! Don't you know a fellow frat when you see
him?"
He looked up. A young man of athletic build, with a pleasant, frank
face, was standing at the news stand under the Park Place elevated
station. Quickly Howard extended his hand.
"Hello, Coxe!" he exclaimed. "What on earth are you doing in New York?
Whoever would have expected to meet you in this howling wilderness?
How's everything at Yale?"
The athlete grinned.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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