“Well, anyhow, you’ll let me go, won’t you? without making a fuss, I mean?”
“A fuss! Do I ever make a fuss?”
“Oh, you know what I mean—without making me feel a brute for doing it?”
“You know I would never keep you back from what was really your duty.”
“That’s all right, then,” Dick failed to notice the distinction thus delicately implied. “And I’m going to try and save all your father’s work from being ruined, so it must be my duty, mustn’t it?”
“I suppose so. And I am forbidden to make a fuss?”
“Oh yes, please, absolutely—unless it would comfort you awfully to do it.”
“It wouldn’t comfort you. That’s what I have to think of. When do you start, Dick?”
“In an hour or so—as soon as it’s properly dark.”
“Then there’s plenty of time. I should so like the boy to be baptized before you go.”