“What?”
“To go to Philadelphia on the stage to-morrow morning, and to take the first berth that I can get.”
“Oh, Thomas! thee wouldn’t go so soon, surely! What would Patty do?”
“Patty would have to bear it, mother. She’ll have to bear it, anyhow. It’ll be just as hard to leave to-morrow week as it will to-morrow. The sooner I leave the sooner I’ll be back, thee knows.”
All this was very reasonable, but, nevertheless, his heart failed him at the thought of leaving. “Of course,” he burst out, after a while, “of course, it’s as hard for me to go as it is for her to have me go.”
“I don’t know that, Thomas,” said his mother, in a trembling voice. “Thy life will be full of work and change. Patty will have nothing to do but to think of thee.”
“Well, all the same, its hard to leave her, and the knowledge that she will suffer don’t make it any the easier for me.”
He got up and began walking restlessly up and down the room. Presently he stopped in front of his mother.
“Yes, mother,” said he, “I’ll go on the stage to-morrow morning. There’s no use putting it off any longer, and I’d be a coward to do so.”
Then his mother put her handkerchief to her face, and the tears that she was keeping back came very freely.