“No. It’s a disappointment to me. I have missed him sadly.”
“It seems to me it was a very risky thing to let him go off so far.”
“He was very anxious to go, and I thought it might be an education to him. I would like, myself, to see more of the great world.”
“Of course that’s one way to look at it, but there ain’t many boys that can be trusted so far away. I was amazed at his not coming home. What does the captain say?”
“He says that Guy made a good friend, and he is earning enough to pay his expenses.”
“Then you approve of his staying?”
“I hardly know what to think. Guy is a good boy, and I think he can be trusted.”
Deacon Crane coughed.
A cough is very significant sometimes. The deacon’s cough indicated incredulity of a very decided character.
“Mebbe, mebbe,” he said; “but that isn’t the way I would have managed with my boy.”