"Here it comes," said Bojo to himself, bracing himself to resist.
"What would you like to do?"
"What would I like?" said Tom, completely off his guard.
"Yes, what are your ideas?"
The turn was so unexpected that he could not for the moment assemble his thoughts. He rose, making a pretext of seeking an ash-tray, and returned.
"Why, to tell the truth, sir, I came here expecting that you would demand that I go into this—into the mills."
"I see, and you don't want to do what your father's done. You want something else, something better."
The tone in which this was said aroused the obstinacy in the young man, but he repressed the first answer.
"I don't know, sir, that there's any use of my explaining myself; I don't know what good it'll do," he said slowly.