“No, not very often,” said Phonny.
“Do you know what the reason is?” asked Wallace.
“I suppose because they think that I am not old enough,” replied Phonny, “but I am.”
“I don’t think that that is the reason,” said Wallace. “Stuyvesant is not quite so old as you are, and yet I shall let him go and ride alone whenever he pleases.”
“What is the reason then?” asked Phonny.
“Because you are not man enough I suppose,” said Wallace. “You might be more manly, without being any older, and then people would put more trust in you, and you would have a great many more pleasures.”
Phonny was rather surprised to hear his cousin Wallace speak thus. He had thought that he was manly—very manly; but it was evident that his cousin considered him boyish.
“I do not know,” continued Wallace, “but that you are as manly as other boys of your years.”
“Except Stuyvesant,” said Phonny.
“Yes, except Stuyvesant,” said Wallace, “I think that he is rather remarkable. I do not think that you are very boyish,—but you are growing up quite fast and you are getting to be pretty large. It is time for you to begin to evince some degree of the carefulness, and considerateness, and sense of responsibility, that belong to men.