“Only that I am to stick to the old shop,” said Tom. “Don’t tell any one; I would not have the fellows know it.”
“Do you mean your father’s profession?”
“Ay!”
“Oh, Tom! you don’t talk of that as if you despised it?”
“If it is good enough for him, it is good enough for me, I suppose,” said Tom. “I hate everything when I think of my brothers going over the world, while I, do what I will, must be tied down to this slow place all the rest of my days.”
“If you were away, you would be longing after it.”
“Yes; but I can’t get away.”
“Surely, if the notion is so unpleasant to you, Dr. May would never insist?”
“It is my free choice, and that’s the worst of it.”
“I don’t understand.”