Now they were much together, and
occasionally, by a strong effort, would grace their father's
breakfast-table with their company.
It was not often that he either reproached them or preached to
them. Though he could not live with them on almost equal terms, as
some fathers can live with their sons, though he could not laugh
at their fun or make them laugh at his wit, he knew that it would
have been better both for him and them if he had possessed this
capacity. Though the life which they lived was distasteful to
him,--though racehorses were an abomination to him, and the driving
of coaches a folly, and club-life a manifest waste of time, still
he recognised these things as being, if not necessary, yet
unavoidable evils. To Gerald he would talk about Oxford, avoiding
all allusion to past Cambridge misfortunes; but in the presence of
Silverbridge, whose Oxford career had been so peculiarly
unfortunate, he would make no allusion to either of the
universities. To his eldest son he would talk of Parliament which
of all subjects would have been the most congenial had they agreed
in politics.
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