This attitude of the people toward the Dallases was partly responsible for their ruin. Stephen’s father prized and treasured his reputation for indestructibility. To a man of his special brand of pride, it was galling to allow his fellow citizens even to suspect that the roots of the oak tree were not as healthy as the proud and upstanding trunk signified. And so it was not until the great tree fell—was pulled over by its own weight, and lay sprawling on the ground, a mammoth and pitiful wreck, for every curious passer-by to gape at—that the decayed and rotten condition of the roots was discovered by the astonished public.

When the brief telegram from home reached Stephen (he had completed his college course by this time and had nearly completed his post-graduate course—he had decided to follow in his father’s steps and become a lawyer) the message gave no details. Simply stated the fact of his father’s sudden death and summoned him home immediately.

It was not until he was within a few hours of Reddington that he learned of the manner of his father’s death. He read it in a Chicago paper.

His father had committed suicide! He had locked himself up in his office downtown, one night, and shot himself with a revolver!

“For a number of years,” the article stated, “Mr. Stephen Dallas, who was a lawyer and one of Reddington’s most respected citizens, has acted as trustee for various estates, and sole legal and financial advisor for a number of charitable institutions. It is feared that the various funds entrusted to him may have suffered and an investigation of his affairs is now underway.”

Stephen learned upon his arrival home that the fears hinted at in the paper were justified. His one desire was to escape, to get away from everybody and everything familiar as soon as possible, after the details of burial were disposed of. He had no forgiveness, no charity, for his father. He told his mother and his older sister Fanny that he wished they could dispose of the ruined thing his father had made of the Dallas reputation as easily as they could dispose of the ruined thing he had made of his body. But no, the reputation they must wear tied round their necks for everybody to see, and stare at, and keep away from. Obliged as he was to bear his father’s name (why had his parents handicapped him thus?) he could never hope to succeed in any large way, he said; for who would ever trust a man with the name Stephen Dallas? It spelled suicide and dishonor now.