“You must wait. I have succeeded in getting Dan to go to school with you. Can’t you be content with that?”
“I’ll have to be,” said Walter, “though I’d like to know the rest. May I go over then and talk it over with Dan?”
“Of course.”
“Then I’ll go now!” exclaimed Walter as he ran from the piazza.
“John, what did you say to Dan?” inquired Mrs. Borden of her husband, as he seated himself in a chair beside her.
“Well, I told Dan for one thing that he was not acting wisely in turning down the chance I gave him. I told him there was a difference between begging and receiving. That it sometimes was more gracious to receive than it was to give.”
“I can’t understand you, John,” said Mrs. Borden a little impatiently. “One would think to hear you that it was Dan conferring the favor and not you or Walter.”
“That is exactly what I did tell him,” said Mr. Borden quietly.
“You did?”
“I did. I told him that I knew as well as he that Walter was an only child and spoiled by his mother——”