“About the middle of next month.”
“And if you really pass, are you going to work away down in Texas?” continued the girl, anxiously.
“If I can get the position,––and if Roger is willing to go along.”
“I don’t like to have you go so far away;” and Jessie pouted a little.
“Well, it can’t be helped. If I want to be a civil engineer I’ve got to take an opening where I can get it. Besides, Mr. Ramsdell thinks it will 34 be the best kind of training for Roger and me. He knows the men at the head of the Mentor Company, and will get them to give us every opportunity to advance ourselves. That, you know, will mean a great deal.”
“Oh, but Texas, Dave! Why, that is thousands of miles away!”
“Not so very many thousands, Jessie,” he answered with a little smile. “The mails run regularly, and I trust you will not forget how to write letters. Besides that, I don’t expect to stay in Texas forever.”
“Yes, but when you come back from Texas, you’ll be going off to some other far-away place––South America, or Africa, or the North Pole, or somewhere,” and Jessie pouted again.
“Oh, say, let up! I’m not going to South Africa, or to the North Pole either. Of course, I may go to Mexico or South America, or to the Far West. But that won’t be so very soon. It will be after I have had considerable experience in civil engineering, and when I am older than I am now. And you know what sometimes happens to a fellow when he gets older?”
“What?”