Living too Fast by Oliver Optic

CAPTAIN Halliard was as grim as an ogre, and evidently intended to make me pay the thousand dollars I owed my Aunt Rachel. Of course he did not care half so much about the money as he did to bring me to a realizing sense of the peril of living too fast. He had worked hard for me, and used his influence in obtaining the situation I then held. He was fond of power and influence, and a failure to consult him in regard to any important movement was a mortal insult.

His views of life and living were different from mine, and I found it necessary to steer clear of him. I do not say that this was not a mistake on my part-it was. If I had followed his prudent counsels, I should have kept out of trouble. I had sinned against my uncle, and was no more worthy to be called a _protégé_ of his. I had married, I had taken a house, I had furnished it, I had given a party, without consulting him, and even without inviting him to any of the later festive occasions. I knew that they were not to his taste, and it was almost a cause of offence to ask him to attend a merry-making of any kind.