But his father, afraid that Rollo had been doing some injustice to his playmates, stopped the children and inquired into the case. The children told him that they had formed a society, and had elected Jonas cabinet keeper; and that Rollo had afterwards said he meant to be cabinet keeper himself, and so would not let the society have his cabinet to keep their curiosities in.
“And did he first agree that the society might have it?”
“No, sir,” said Rollo, decidedly; “I did not agree to any thing about it.” He thought that this would exonerate him from all blame.
“Was not there a tacit agreement?” asked his father.
“A tacit agreement!” repeated Rollo. He did not know what a tacit agreement was.
“Yes,” said his father, “tacit means silent; a tacit or implied agreement is one which is made without being formally expressed in words. If it is only understood by both parties, it is just as binding as if it were fully expressed. For instance, if I go into a bookstore, and ask the bookseller to put me up certain books, and take them and carry them home, and then he charges them to me in his books, I must pay for them: for, though I did not say any thing about paying for them, yet my actions constituted an implied agreement to pay. By going in and getting them, under those circumstances, I, in fact, tacitly promise that I will pay for them when the bookseller sends in his bill. A very large portion of the agreements made among men are tacit agreements.”
The children all listened very attentively, and they understood very well what Rollo’s father was saying. Rollo was considering whether there had been a tacit agreement that the society should have the cabinet; but he did not speak.
“Now, Rollo, did you consent to the formation of the society?”
“Yes, sir,” said Henry, eagerly; “he asked us all to form the society.”
“And was it the understanding that the museum was to be kept in the cabinet that Jonas made?”