“Blake! What do you propose to do with yourself if you don’t go to school? You can’t go on like this.”
“Why not?” he asked, without any real hope.
“Besides, when you grow up you won’t be satisfied with yourself. You’re just a baby, really. I know you don’t think of yourself that way, but you are. An ignorant little child. I can’t let you grow up without learning any more, can I? How will you ever get into college?”
He answered quickly, “But I keep telling you, I don’t want to go to college. I won’t go.”
“You’ll change your mind when the time comes,” she said benevolently.
He drew pictures on the tablecloth with a fork, and tried hard to think of what he could say. He would feel his way.
“Listen. Why can’t I go away somewhere and have a private education? Lots of people send their sons abroad with tutors. Couldn’t you do that? Why can’t I go to a foreign country and study languages? If I studied a language I would be learning something. Let me go to Europe or China or——”
“That wouldn’t be possible. Not at your age.”
“What has my age got to do with it?”
“Darling, I couldn’t think of letting you go away alone.”