“I was, but I guess now that you are here, I’ll go home. I stayed so that Brooke shouldn’t be lonely; besides, I have your room.”
“That don’t count,” protested the Cub, “I can sleep here just as well as not.”
“Oh, there is one other thing,” added Lucy. “I’m not so sure who there is at the stable or how they would treat Pam, so best not take her there. I’m so glad that you have come home, boy. I dined with dad to-night and tried to learn as much as I could about this money trouble of your father’s, and it is about as bad as can be, and though of course it may be some time before it can be known exactly how things stand, there is little doubt but when what’s left of the apple is divided there won’t be even the core for you all. Of course, if the illness had not come, some arrangement might have been made to tide things over. Suppose you take Pam down to our house to-night, and stay there and have a talk with dad. He will tell Brooke all he knows to-morrow. Don’t go yet, it’s only nine, half an hour later will do as well as now.
“Tell me, what is the matter with you, honour bright? Are you really sick or only sort of lazy and shilly-shally, obstinate, discouraged, and crazy to get out of jail? I know the symptoms, for I’ve had them all one by one, in my youth, doing everything by rule, duty the watchword, more mathematics the penalty for forgetting it, and dyspepsia the result. My sons shall be reared in the open, if they never get beyond horse-breaking and cattle-breeding,” and a shiver of sympathy ran down Lucy’s flexible spine, branching off in an odd twisting of her fingers that sent her handkerchief, that she had rolled into a ball to amuse the pup, flying across the room, much to the amusement of Pam, who caught it, and made her master jump to rescue the roll of cambric and lace from her investigating paws.
“Honour bright, Lucy, it’s the being shut up so much, and the confounded mathematics and knowing that I never seem to satisfy the old man on top of that. If he’d only let me work at something I like, and learn to do something out-of-doors, but at this rate I think I’m getting consumption—” and the Cub gave a really dismal cough.
“Of course a man must know how to count, and a few little things like that, no matter what he does,” said Lucy, so seriously that the boy did not at first realize that she was mocking him; “for whether you handle your own or some other person’s money, or eggs and potatoes, counting will be a painful necessity.
“Oh, oh! what is this?” she exclaimed, as in handing her back her handkerchief the thumb and forefinger of his right hand caught her eye. These were stained a brownish yellow on the inside. Spreading the fingers apart, she looked the boy in the face, and he flushed scarlet under his freckles.
“Been smoking cigarettes, on the sly, of course, and consequently in a hurry, swallowed the smoke, and sometimes chewed the butts to pulp! There is half the cause why your head won’t work right, as well as one reason why you are lanky and cough. See here, young man, do you know that only what-is-its and mistakes smoke cigarettes? Men smoke pipes, or cigars if they can afford them; and I’m going to give you a pipe on your next birthday, with Pam’s head carved on a meerschaum bowl. I’ll get Charlie Ashton to order it to-morrow; he knows a fellow who carves pipes that are perfect dreams. Meantime not a whiff or sniff of a cigarette. Yes, of course it’s hard to stop, they all say that, but really, Cub, it’s a horrid trick. Yes, I know all about it; I tried cigarettes once myself. Empty your pockets quick and swear off.”
At first the boy had looked annoyed, and a curious, obstinate expression, akin to that of a horse putting back his ears, crossed his features, flattening them; but it only lasted a moment. It was impossible to be angry with Lucy, for her tongue was pointed with common sense born of experience, and there was never anything censorious or priggish in her strictures.