“No, no; that does not follow,” said Uncle Bob.
“Ah, won’t it! You’ll see,” I said.
“Look here, Cob, be reasonable,” exclaimed Uncle Jack, walking up and down the room in a very excited way. “You see, ever since you were born we’ve made a sort of playmate of you, and since you grew older, and have been down here with us, you know we have not treated you as if you were a boy.”
“Well, no, uncle, I suppose you have not.”
“We have talked with you, consulted with you, and generally behaved towards you as if you were a young man.”
“And now all at once you turn round and punish me by treating me as if I were a little boy.”
“No, no, my lad; be reasonable. We have been consulting together.”
“Without me.”
“Yes, without you; because we felt that we were not doing you justice—that we were not behaving as good brothers to your mother, in letting you go on sharing these risks.”
“But there may be no more, uncle.”