"I cannot answer that," said Mrs. Clayton Vernon; "it is for you to answer. You have given all your friends the impression that you would do something worth doing. You have raised hopes, and you must not disappoint them. We believe in you, Richard. That is all I can say."
"That's all very well; but—" He stopped and played with the seal on his watch-chain. "The fact is, I am working, you know. I want to be an author—at least a journalist."
"Ah!"
"It's a slow business—at first—" Suddenly moved to be confidential, he went on to give her some account, incomplete and judiciously edited, of his life during the past year.
"You have relieved my mind greatly, and Clayton will be so glad. We were beginning to think—"
"Why were you 'beginning to think'?"
"Well, never mind now."
"But why?"
"Never mind. I have full confidence in you, and I am sure you will get on. Poor boy, you have no near connections or relatives now?"
"No, none."