“We will go out on to the veranda and have our talk there, my boy,” he said, leading the way, Max following, “the air is so much pleasanter there than within doors this warm evening.”
“Yes, sir; perfectly delightful, I think, papa; I don’t know where a lovelier, happier home than ours can be found.”
“Ah, I am very glad you appreciate it, my dear boy,” the captain said, with a pleasant look, beginning to pace the length of the veranda to and fro, Max keeping close at his side, “and I shall miss my eldest hope sadly when the time comes for him to leave the home nest. Have you made up your mind yet as to what calling you would like best to pursue?”
“I have been thinking a great deal about it of late, papa, and if you are willing, and there is an opening for me, I want to go into the navy.”
“I willing? Entirely so. I have not lost my old love for the service, and shall not grudge my son to it.”
“Perhaps I inherit my love for it from you, papa,” remarked Max. “Any way, I know that your having been in it, and hearing you speak so highly of it, has had a good deal to do with my desire to go into it; and your son could hardly fail to be patriotic and full of love to the old flag. Then you have furnished me with so much interesting reading about the doings of our navy in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War, that it’s no wonder I feel a strong desire to help in its work if we ever have another one.”
“No, I suppose I have only myself to blame,” his father said pleasantly, “yet I am not at all sure that I should act otherwise if I could go back to the time of your babyhood and begin over again.
“Well, Max, to-day’s mail brought me the offer of an appointment to a naval cadetship for my son, if I desired it. My boy, shall I accept for you?”
“If you think best, papa, I’ll be delighted to have you do it,” Max said, in a joyous tone. “But am I old enough to go this year?”
“Just the right age,” answered his father, half-sighing at the thought of the separation the acceptance of the offered appointment must involve. “But, Max, I fear I may have shown you the pleasant side of the life too exclusively. I must discourse to you of its hardships, before allowing you to decide for or against it.”