Write to me from Rome . I shall always be glad to hear from you wherever you are . And -- and -- I shall always try to live up to your ideal of me , Stephen . '' He sprang to his feet and took her hand , lifting it to his lips with boyish reverence . `` I know that , '' he said , slowly . `` Good-bye , my sweet lady . '' When Mrs. Longworth found herself in her room again , she unlocked her desk and took out a letter . It was addressed to Mr. Maurice Cunningham . She slowly tore it twice across , laid the fragments on a tray , and touched them with a lighted match . As they blazed up one line came out in writhing redness across the page : `` I will go away with you as you ask . '' Then it crumbled into gray ashes . She drew a long breath and hid her face in her hands . The Promissory Note Ernest Duncan swung himself off the platform of David White 's store and walked whistling up the street . Life seemed good to Ernest just then . Mr. White had given him a rise in salary that day , and had told him that he was satisfied with him . Mr. White was not easy to please in the matter of clerks , and it had been with fear and trembling that Ernest had gone into his store six months before . He had thought himself fortunate to secure such a chance . His father had died the preceding year , leaving nothing in the way of worldly goods except the house he had lived in . For several years before his death he had been unable to do much work , and the finances of the little family had dwindled steadily . After his father 's death Ernest , who had been going to school and expecting to go to college , found that he must go to work at once instead to support himself and his mother .
If George XXXXX had not left much of worldly wealth behind him , he at least bequeathed to his son the interest of a fine , upright character and a reputation for honesty and integrity .
Cunningham Duncan Ernest Rome Stephen White day months redness years