walking about the room, vainly trying to control the agitation which
is natural even to the cool and experienced when feeling that they are
at one of the crises of life.

It could not be expected of Arden Lacey at his age to be cool and
experienced. Indeed his light curling hair, blue eyes, and a mobile
sensitive mouth, suggested the reverse of a stolid self-poise, or
cheerful endurance. Any one accustomed to observe character could see
that he was possessed of a nervous, fine-fibred nature capable of
noble achievement under right influences, but also easily warped and
susceptible to sad injury under brutal wrong. He was like those
delicate and somewhat complicated musical instruments that produce the
sweetest harmonies when in tune and well played upon, but the most
jangling discords when unstrung and in rough, ignorant hands. He had
inherited his nervous temperament, his tendency to irritation and
excess, from the diseased, over-stimulated system of his father, who
was fast becoming a confirmed inebriate, and who had been poisoning
himself with bad liquors all his life. From his mother he had obtained
what balance he had in temperament, but he owed more to her daily
influence and training. It was the one struggle of the poor woman's
life to shield her children from the evil consequences of their
father's life. For her son she had special anxiety, knowing his
sensitive, high-strung nature, and his tendency to go headlong into
evil if his self-respect and self-control were once lost. His
passionate love for her had been the boy's best trait, and through
this she had controlled him thus far. But she had thought that it
might be best for him to be away from his father's presence and
influence if she could only find something that accorded with his
bent. And this eventually proved to be a college education. The boy
was of a quick and studious mind. From earliest years he had been fond