“I think you are wrong.”
“Nonsense! What do you suppose, now, Jacob would do if I were to bring him to book, and claim a right to know all about his business transactions, and his plans and prospects? It would be a mere farce my making believe to go into the business.”
“Possibly you might make it so, but it need not be so. But I cannot think it wise or right for you to go to Montreal. It is like setting aside the plans of your whole life to leave Gershom.”
“No; you are mistaken. Though I have said nothing about it, I have not this many a day meant to settle down here. I may ultimately ‘hang out my shingle’ here, or I may be appointed judge of the district by and by, and then I’ll come back and be a bigger man than Jacob, even.”
But Elizabeth could not laugh at his nonsense. She was afraid for her brother. She had longed for his return home, saying to herself that home influence and a busy life would be better for him than the careless life he had been living as a student; that with responsibility laid upon him, he would forget his follies, and be all that she longed to see him.
“Think of our father’s disappointment. How can you ever tell him that you are going away?”
“While he has you he will be all right, and he will always be looking forward to the time when I shall come home for good, for I fully intend to settle here by and by. I confess it is hard for you to be kept stationary here, Lizzie. It looks mean in me to go away and leave you, doesn’t it?”
“If it were going to be for your good—But, Clifton I don’t believe it.”
“I ought to give myself the best chance, ought I not? I must go to Montreal. But, Lizzie, why don’t you say at once that I am not to be trusted in the city with its temptations? That is what you are thinking of.”
Elizabeth did not deny it. She was thinking of it sadly enough.