"Yes you can; why not?"
"I have to attend to my business."
"You can afford to take a vacation of a week or two, I should think."
Paul shook his head. He was delighted with the idea, and would have been very glad to go, but he could not think of neglecting his business to go away upon a pleasure excursion.
"You must go, Paul; the fellows all want you to go, and we shall have a first-rate time."
"I have no doubt you will; and I should be very glad to go with you if I could; but it is of no use for me to think of such a thing."
"It is not fully decided that we are to go yet; but Captain Littleton and my father have consented to let us have the Flyaway. We shall know all about it next week."
Paul continued his walk, but the project of the excursion in the Flyaway haunted his imagination, and it required a great deal of self-denial for him to forego the anticipated pleasure. He felt that the summer season was the harvest time of his business, and he could not afford to waste a week or two in idle play. "Little by Little," was his motto, and he was not willing that any of those "littles" should slip through his fingers.
When they went down in the Fawn the next day, he told John about the excursion, and that he had been invited to form one of the party.
"But I can't afford to go," he added.