them. If fifteen thousand dollars a year and a share in the business is
any good to you--"

For an instant there had been pleasure and wonder in the young man's
eyes, but at the sound of the money and the share in the business he
shrank back.

"I don't think so, father. I'm happy enough. I've got all I want."

"What the devil are you talking about!" the other burst out. "You've
got all you want! You've no home; you've no wife; you've no children;
you've no place. You paint, and you sculp, and what's the good of it
all? Have you ever thought of that? What's there in it for you or
anyone else? Have you no blood and bones, no sting of life in you? Look
what I've done. I started with little, and I've built up a business
that, if it goes all right, will be worth millions. I say, if it goes
all right, because I've got to carry more than I ought."

Carnac shook his head. "I couldn't be any help to you. I'm not a man
of action. I think, I devise, but I don't act. I'd be no good in your
business no, honestly, I'd be no good. I don't think money is the end
of life. I don't think success is compensation for all you've done and
still must do. I want to stand out of it. You've had your life; you've
lived it where you wanted to live it. I haven't, and I'm trying to find
out where my duty and my labour lies. It is Art; no doubt. I don't know
for sure."

"Good God!" broke in the old man. "You don't know for sure--you're
twenty-five years old, and you don't know where you're going!"