'And therefore despises it.'

'A little of that, perhaps. No man ever worked harder than he
did, or, in his way, more successfully; and having seen one after
another of his juniors become members of Parliament, while he
stuck to the attorneys, there is perhaps a little jealousy about
it.'

'From what I see of the way you live at home, I should think your
father would do anything for you,--with proper management.
There is no doubt, I suppose, that he could afford it?'

'My father never in his life said anything to me about his own
money affairs though he says a great deal about mine. No man
ever was closer than my father. But I believe he could afford
almost anything.'

'I wish I had such a father,' said Ferdinand Lopez. 'I think
that I should succeed in ascertaining the extent of his
capabilities, and in making some use of them too.'

Wharton nearly asked his friend,--almost summoned courage to ask
him,--whether his father had done much for him. They were very
intimate; and on one subject, in which Lopez was much interested,
their confidence had been very close. But the younger and weaker
man of the two could not quite bring himself to the point of
making an inquiry which he thought would be disagreeable. Lopez
had never before, in all their intercourse, hinted at the
possibility of his having or having had filial aspirations. He
had been as though he had been created self-sufficient,