The second son of
General Bannister also died young, but not before he had proved
his devotion to his father by an exemplary life. He, too, was
married and left an only son, also named for the old soldier. The
boys were about of an age and were well matched in physical and
mental equipment. But the general, who had taken them both to
live with him, soon discovered that their characters were as
dissimilar as the poles. One grandson was frank, generous, open
as the light; the other was of a nature almost degenerate. In
fact, each had inherited the qualities of his father. Tales began
to come to the old general's ears that at first he refused to
credit. But eventually it was made plain to him that one of the
boys was a rake of the most objectionable type.
There were many stormy scenes between the general and his
grandson, but the boy continued to go from bad to worse. After a
peculiarly flagrant case, involving the character of a
respectable young girl, young Ned Bannister was forbidden his
ancestral home. It had been by means of his cousin that this last
iniquity of his had been unearthed, and the boy had taken it to
his grandfather in hot indignation as the last hope of protecting
the reputation of the injured girl.
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