For a few moments the Rev. Eli Mallow was aghast at the idea. He wished Cyril to leave the town, but not to go abroad.
“I don’t care where I go,” said Cyril; “I’ll either try Australia, or go and hunt out Frank and chum with him.”
“But we don’t know where he is,” said the Rector.
“New Zealand.”
“Yes, but New Zealand is large.”
“Not so large but what a fellow might find out Frank. Everyone would know him.”
The Rector sighed, and wished his sons were not so popular with a certain class, and then he thought over the position, and shrank from giving his consent. Knowing the mother’s intense love for her son, he felt that the parting would nearly break her heart, and after a few moments’ pause he said so.
“Oh, you need not fidget about that,” said the young man. “I’ve talked to her about it for days past.”
“And what does she say?”
“Well, it upset her a bit at first, but she soon came round, and she thinks it would be the best thing I could do.”