Mr. Martin's sternness softened. "A good many boys run away from home," he said. "The luckiest ones are those who come back before they have run too far. It was this charge account business you were running away from, wasn't it?"
"Partly." Jerry could not tell his father that his mother's lack of belief in his honesty had had more to do with his running away. Jerry did not want to remember how his mother had looked at him. He hoped never to bring an expression like that to her face again.
"The worst thing about your scheme for the charge account was that you were handling money that belonged to somebody else without his permission," said Jerry's father.
"You mean Mr. Bartlett. It was his money but I don't see why—"
"It was not then Mr. Bartlett's money but mine. You contracted a debt in my name and withheld money that had been entrusted to you."
The way his father put it made Jerry feel that he had done something nearly bad enough for him to be put in jail.
"I was just trying to prove that it pays to have a charge account at Bartlett's," said Jerry.
"You knew very well that I don't have charge accounts or intend to have them."
"What's the sin about charging things?"
"No sin, of course. I didn't say it was. It's a person's right to charge anything he wants to. And my right to pay cash, since I prefer to do business that way."