Breakfast was a sad affair. Kitty and Billy, who seemed in high spirits, tried to give the meal an air of gaiety, but Mr. Fenelby was glum and his wife naturally reflected some of his feeling, and after a few attempts to liven things Kitty and Billy turned their attention to each other and left the Fenelbys alone with their gloom. As soon as breakfast was over, Kitty, after a weak suggestion that she should help Laura with the dishes, carried Billy away, saying that no matter what happened she was going to church. The Fenelbys were glad to have them go, and Mr. Fenelby helped Laura carry out the breakfast things.
“Laura,” said Mr. Fenelby, “I lay awake a long time last night thinking about the tariff, and something has got to be done about it! I cannot, as the father of Bobberts, let it go on as it is going.”
“I lay awake too,” said Laura, “and I think exactly as you do, Tom.”
“I knew you would,” said Mr. Fenelby. “The way Kitty and Billy are acting is not to be borne. They acted last night as if you and I were not capable of raising our own child! I really cannot put another cent in that bank under the tariff law, Laura. Just think how it looks—we are not to be trusted to provide Bobberts with an education; we are not fit to decide how to raise the money for him. No, Kitty and Billy are to be his guardians. They don’t trust us; they insist that we shall keep ourselves bound by the tariff system. They think we don’t love dear little Bobberts, and they think they can make us provide for him, just because they have the balance of power!”
“Yes,” said Laura sympathetically. “I thought of all that, Tom, and I don’t think it does them much credit. It is easy enough for them to say there must be a tariff, when they bring hardly anything into the house that they have to pay duty on, but we have to keep the house going. We have to have vegetables and meat and all sorts of things, and they are making us pay duty, while all they have to do is to eat and have a good time. Bobberts is our child, Tom, and it ought to be for us to say what we will save for him, and how we will save it.”
“That is just what I think,” said Mr. Fenelby feelingly, “and I am not going to stand it any longer. I am going to have another meeting of congress this afternoon—”
“They will vote just the same way,” said Laura, hopelessly.
“Probably,” said Mr. Fenelby. “But if they do we will end the whole thing.”
“We can’t send them away,” said Laura. “We couldn’t be so rude as that.”
“No,” said Mr. Fenelby, “but we will secede. You and I and Bobberts will secede from the Union. I never believed in secession, Laura, but I see now that there are times when conditions become so intolerable that there is nothing else to do. We will give them a chance to vote the tariff out of existence, and if they don’t we will just secede from the Commonwealth of Bobberts. We will have a free trade commonwealth of our own, and Kitty and Billy can do as they please.”