the hotel was like a vapor-bath.

But the leaping red blood of youth ran strong in him. He had
imagination. He could dream. The good things he was tasting were a
presage only of the better things to come, and that is a wholesome
point of view. He was proud--as who would not be?--to step
straight into the tracks of such a father; and with that thought came
another--just as good for him, and for India, that made him feel as
though he were a robber yet, a thief in another's cornfield, gathering
what he did not sow. It came over him in a flood that he must pay the
price of all this homage.

Some men pay in advance, some at the time, and some pay afterward. All
men, he knew, must pay. It would be his task soon to satisfy these
gentle-men, who took him at his face value, by proving to them that
they had made no very great mistake. The thought thrilled him instead
of frightening--brought out every generous instinct that he had and
made him thank the God of All Good Soldiers that at least he would have
a chance to die in the attempt. There was nothing much the matter with
young Cunningham.



CHAPTER VI


I take no man at rumor's price,
Nor as the gossips cry him.
A son may ride, and stride, and stand;
His father's eye--his father's hand--