If he wanted a wife, he would take her just so easily, unburdened by care for the future, untroubled by any thought of responsibility. James Todd was an absolute child still, as regarded any sense of responsibility. He did whatever he felt inclined to do, so far as lay in his power. If he wished to marry, he would marry; if he married, his wife might take her chance. He supposed that something would turn up in the way of work; and, should it fail, he would never blame himself for the consequent misery of his wife or children.
Such men as Todd never do blame themselves. If things go wrong, it is always somebody else's fault, never their own.
His notion of marriage was, in fact, simply of an event which should add to his comfort, and should give him pleasure. In a good-natured and easy fashion, Todd was eaten through and through with selfishness. The possible comfort or pleasure of his wife lay outside the range of his imagination; and the mere suggestion that he was strictly accountable, not only before man, but unto God Himself, for the well-being, the happiness, the training, of his future children, should he have any, would have made him open his eyes widely, with slow amazement.
Such a notion had never occurred to his imagination. He thought only of what he wanted, and of what would be agreeable to himself. Following this line of thought, he resolved to cultivate a closer acquaintance thenceforward with the Plunkett family.
"How long is that there young fellow going to hang dawdling about, doing nothing?" demanded Mrs. Plunkett of her husband, two or three weeks later. "He's got a lot too much time on his hands, and that's a fact."
"Todd? Well, he says he's on the look-out for work, and it isn't easy to find just the thing. He's had a job or two."
"And threw up the chance of something more than a job, because it wasn't to his mind!"
"Well, he said that sort o' thing wasn't in his line."
"Nor nothing else—seems to me—except dangling round and talking nonsense."
"Don't see that neither. If he can't do nothing else, he can talk."