CHAPTER VII.
LAST DAYS.
sn't it awfully cold for you and mother to travel at this time of year, father?" asked Hugh as he buttoned up his warm great coat to set out for school for the last time before the Christmas holidays.
"Very; but you see, my boy, urgent business calls me; and urgent necessity calls your mother."
"Oh, yes! but I wish it were summer. Are you really going on Saturday?"
"Yes, God willing."
Hugh went into the hall, where he found his brother brushing his hat.
"I wonder why father always adds 'God willing,'" he said in an undertone, "so few people do. Do you care about it, John?"
"Well, I can't say that I've come to doing it myself," answered John candidly; "but I do feel this, Hugh, that when they're out on the Atlantic I'd rather know they had felt it was 'God willing,' than that they should have acted on their own responsibility."