“No,” he answered. “That’s what’s troubling me. I suppose I’m too young.”
His mother shook her head. “You’re too level-headed, lad,” she said. “You’ll never make a fool of yourself; for that’s what it means, generally speaking. You’ll marry with your eyes open; and she’ll be a lucky woman, because you ain’t the sort to blow hot and cold and repent of a thing after you’ve done it. That’s what breaks a woman’s heart.”
She gathered together her work and rose.
“Don’t get sitting up too late,” she said. “Don’t do to burn the candle at both ends.”
She was bending down over him. She paused a moment with his head between her hands.
“I suppose you know how handsome you are,” she said.
She kissed him and went out.