The Delafield Affair

pens, Aleck, that the Delafield affair has influenced me and my life more than any other one thing. My father lost everything he had in Sumner L. Delafield's smash-up. I was fifteen years old then, and getting ready to go to Michigan University--afterward I was to study law and be a prominent citizen. My father met Delafield first during a business trip to Boston--we lived in central Illinois, and father was well-to-do--and, just like everybody else, he gave the man his entire confidence. You remember, of course, how Delafield came to the top as a regular young Napoleon of business, and soon made a reputation as one of the big financiers. When he turned up missing one fine morning, and it was found that the bottom had dropped out of everything, most people believed he had killed himself. But he hadn't, I happen to know, and he's still alive. Well, my father had been so influenced by Delafield--the fellow must have been a persuasive cuss--that he had put everything he could raise into the man's schemes, and ha