The exclamation was so heartfelt as to turn all eyes on the young man.
"Why, Bob dear," his mother asked, craftily, "what difference does it make to you?"
Bob did his best to recapture a position he was not yet ready to abandon.
"It may not make any difference to me, but—but how is he going to live?"
"Is that your responsibility?"
Edith came to her brother's rescue.
"It's some one's responsibility, mother."
"Then let some one shoulder it. Bob doesn't have to saddle himself with it, unless—"
Convinced that, in the presence of his father, his mother wouldn't speak too openly, Bob felt safe in a challenge.
"Yes, mother? Unless—what?"