"Do you think he'll want to go fishing with you if you cast off Mary?"
The Judge had a vision of life without Bob Flippin. On sunshiny days there would be no one to cut bait for him, no one to laugh with him at the dogs as they sat waiting for their corn-cakes, no one to listen with flattering attention to his old, old tales.
It had not occurred to him that Bob Flippin, too, might have his pride.
He sat down heavily in a porch chair.
"Go and get Mary," he exploded; "bring her here. The thing is done. The milk is spilled. And there's no use crying over it. And if you think you two young people can separate me and Bob Flippin——"
Mrs. Beaufort and Becky came down presently, to find the old man gazing, frowning, into space.
"I have told him to bring Mary, Claudia, but I must say that I am bitterly disappointed."
"Mary is a good little thing, Father." Aunt Claudia's voice shook.
The old man looked up at her. "It is hardest for you, my dear. And I have helped to make it hard."