“It doesn’t matter if I say it to you. Was he like he is now when he was young?”
“Yes; very much. But you must remember that it was a long time ago. I don’t quite clearly recollect my childhood. Nor, I think—does he his.” Mr. Cole coughed.
“We never had very much in common as boys,” he said suddenly.
“He doesn’t know much about England, does he, father? He says the most awfully silly things.”
“You mustn’t say that about your uncle, my boy.”
“No, but he does. Why, he hasn’t been anywhere in England—not even to Drymouth.”
“No, my boy, he hasn’t. You see, when people have lived in the colonies all their lives they get a little—ahem—out of touch.”
“Yes, father.”
Delightful to think of Uncle Percy being out of touch. Quite a savage, a barbarian. Father and son laughed a little together.
“I bet the boys at Thompson’s would laugh at him,” said Jeremy, “like anything.”