"You do amuse me, Monnie, though I own your principles are right; but you make duty a terrible bugbear!"
"It's a stern reality with me."
"You have the spirit of the old Puritans. You're quite a generation or two behind your time."
"I may be behind most of you, but I'm not a Puritan. I wish sometimes I had a little of their faith. I live in a material world, and I'm of a material nature."
"And you build on the sand," said Sidney softly; "but, of course, your building is only for this life, so you do not expect it to last."
"I expect it to last over my time, and for Chuckles, too. I'm building for him and no other."
"And if at any time anything happened to him? Suppose he did not live to grow up?"
Monica gripped her arm fiercely.
"Don't say such horrible things! His life and mine are bound up in each other. Let us talk of other matters."
"No," said Sidney, "this is so interesting; but we won't suppose anything dreadful will happen to Chuckles. You don't really mean, Monnie, that your whole life will be given to providing a prosperous farm for Chuckles? Do you see no other goal ahead?"