“Do you think with your mother, Frank?” asked Mr. Frost.
“I think mother is right,” said Frank, proud of having his opinion asked. He was secretly determined, in spite of what his father had said, to see if he could not make the farm as profitable as it would be under his father's management.
Mr. Frost seemed relieved by his wife's expression of opinion. “Then,” said he, “I will accept your decision as final. I felt that it should be you, and not myself, who should decide it. Now my mind will be at ease, so far as that goes.”
“You will not enlist at once, father?” asked Frank.
“Not for three or four weeks. I shall wish to give you some special instructions before I go, so that your task may be easier.”
“Hadn't I better leave school at once?”
“You may finish this week out. However, I may as well begin my instructions without delay. I believe you have never learned to milk.”
“No, sir.”
“Probably Carter will undertake that. Still, it will be desirable that you should know how, in case he gets sick. You may come out with me after supper and take your first lesson.”
Frank ran for his hat with alacrity. This seemed like beginning in earnest. He accompanied his father to the barn, and looked with new interest at the four cows constituting his father's stock.