"You say he is an excellent scholar," said Mrs. Oakley. "Then, if his education is already so excellent, there is no further need of his studying. He can begin to earn his living."
"Surely you do not mean what you say. If he were poor, and such a necessity existed, it would be well enough that he should go to work; but you well know that no such necessity exists."
"I am not going to support him in idleness," said Mrs. Oakley, coolly.
"As a student in college he would lead far from an idle life," said the lawyer. "Study is hard work, and college distinction is never won by a lazy student."
"It may be work, though to my mind it is not; but it brings in no money."
"Not at first, perhaps, but it prepares the student for remunerative employment in after life."
"I don't think much of colleges."
Though Mrs. Oakley said this, she would have been very glad to have Ben in college, not that she cared so much to have him a scholar, but it would give him a good social standing.
"I don't know," said Squire Selwyn, rather sharply, for he was getting out of patience with Mrs. Oakley,—"I don't know that it matters much what your opinion of colleges is. It was, as you know, the desire and intention of your late husband that John should enter college. It is your moral duty to carry out that intention."
"I don't care to be told what is my duty," said Mrs. Oakley, her eyes flashing.