'
'Facilis descensus Averni!' said the Duke, shaking his head.
'Noctes atque dies patet atri jauna Ditis.' No doubt, he thought,
that as his son was at Oxford, admonitions in Latin would serve
him better than in his native tongue. But Gerald, when he heard
the grand hexameter rolled out in his father's grandest tone,
entertained a comfortable feeling that the worst of the interview
was over. 'Win back what you had lost! Do you think that that is
the common fortune of young gamblers when they fall among those
who are more experienced than themselves?'
'One goes on, sir, without reflecting.'
'Go on without reflecting! Yes, and where to? where to? Oh,
Gerald, where to? Whither will such progress without reflection
take you?' 'He means--to the devil,' said the lad inwardly to
himself, without moving his lips. 'There is but one goal for such
going on as that. I can pay three thousand four hundred pounds to
you certainly. I think it hard that I should have to do so; but I
can do it,--and I will do it.'
'Thank you, sir,' murmured Gerald.
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