"How soon?"
"In about an hour. He doesn't breakfast as early as we do. I think he will be ready to receive us in about an hour."
"Thank you, father," said Tom. "You are doing a great deal for me."
"I can't do much for you, my boy. I can probably get you to California, and then you will be thrown upon your own exertions."
"I mean to work very hard. I think I shall succeed."
"I hope so, at least, Tom. When the time comes to start the other boys, I shall be glad to have your help in doing it."
Tom was pleased to hear this, though it placed upon his shoulders a new and heavy responsibility. He was assuming the responsibility not only for his own future, but for that of his brothers. But it made him feel more manly, as if the period of his dependent boyhood were over, and he had become a young man all at once.
"I hope I sha'n't disappoint you, father," he said.
"If you do, I don't think it will be your fault, Tom," said his father kindly. "Fortune may be against you, but we must take the risk of that."
"I don't know what to think about it, Tom," said his mother, in a tone of doubt and mental disturbance. "I feel as if you were too young to go out in the wide world to seek your fortune."