"Dick Chambers says it's all silly rot, only fit for girls, and does them no good. Mr. Curtis came after him and asked him about it, and he said he would not go to the classes for anything."
"Humph, and you'd rather take Dick Chambers' opinion than Mr. Curtis's, or mine, or Aunt Betty's. But we can leave the matter of your Confirmation alone at present. Come along, now, and take me over the farm, and show me all the changes since I went away."
Jack obeyed the summons readily enough. It was an enormous relief to talk of something else, and something of the misery of the morning faded in the fascination of Tom's companionship, but as they finally neared the house Jack drew back a little.
"Uncle Tom, shall you tell Aunt Betty?"
"No, the telling is yours, not mine."
"Whom must I tell?"
"God first and ask Him to forgive you, and your father, and ask him the same thing."
Jack winced. "Write it down; write down that I've smoked and told a lie?"
"Yes, put it down in black and white and look at it. It will make you remember, and I don't fancy you will do either again."
The letter to father was written next day, and Jack drank his cup of humiliation to the dregs as he handed the letter, as usual, to Aunt Betty with a crimson face.