'A promise such as that binds no one,' he muttered presently.
Another long five minutes passed—log after log of wood was cut and thrown aside. My hope was almost gone, when suddenly my father laid down the hatchet and turned round.
'See you here, boy; it'll be the worse for you if I do this; you'll have to fare rougher, and there'll be less for you to get. You'll have to be content without so much schooling, and you must work harder.'
'Oh, I don't care, I don't care!'
'Humph.'
'Then Cuthbert needn't go?'
'Have it your own way.'
'But he may stop with us?'
'I suppose he'll have to, leastways as long as he behaves himself.'
I hardly waited to hear him to the end, or to thank him. I dashed out of the wood-shed.