"It won't do for Hollis and Ned. It isn't decent. They're bound to imagine you are keeping bad company—of both sexes——"
The wrath boiled over. "Father! You know I've been busy speaking—last night was the debate—you know I've been busy——"
His father's mouth closed to a thin line, then opened. "I can't have it. They don't know what you do with your time; I am glad of that. You'll have to leave the mountain."
Pelham stood his ground against the menacing stare. "I shall be glad to." There was a blank wrench of anguish within him, at the thought of leaving the familiar home; the mere difficulties of moving and settling again loomed mountain-high. "Your suggestion that I am going with bad companions is trash, and you know it." He hesitated, then drove on. "I'll leave by Saturday."
Paul turned away. "It will be a good thing."
His soul stinging with the father's injustice, he waited until the other had gone in leisurely certainty down the hill, and went in to his mother. "I'm to leave the mountain next Saturday, mother."
"It's necessary, Pelham. You have distressed your father in so many ways, I cannot see anything else for you to do."
Hurt pride spoke within him. "He said my late hours set a bad example for the boys."
"Yes ... that too...."
The words crowded out. "He said that I was late because I was going with bad companions, when he knows that's a lie!"