Simmen thought that he was considering what had just been said to him. "Anyway, it will be good for him, to go out into the world, your boy," he went on, trying to persuade Fausch. "It is always useful for young people."
"True," muttered the smith; he seemed to be waking up. "I will see," he added, and as Simmen began to advise him as to where he might send his boy, and offered to do something for him, he said "Yes, yes," in answer. The host might take it for assent if he chose. When he had forced out these few words in answer to Simmen, Fausch shifted from one foot to the other a few times, as if the ground were hot beneath his feet, then suddenly he walked out exactly as he had come in, with clumsy, almost groping steps, as if he were blindly following his own thoughts.
At supper, he sat with Cain and Katharine, more silent than ever. Only when the boy began to talk very earnestly once more about going away, he spoke harshly to him: "Can't you keep still till you're spoken to?"
Cain was not afraid of him. He fixed his clear eyes on his father's face. "I will depend upon myself as much as I can," he went on, speaking of his plans.
Fausch did not answer him again.
"Then--I must go, without your consent," Cain concluded, firmly. "Tomorrow morning early--I shall--"
Katharine, who scarcely knew what had happened, came around the table and took hold of the boy's sleeve with trembling fingers: "My boy--my boy!" she said in a warning tone.
But Fausch was a strange picture, as he sat there. His powerful form was trembling, as if with rage: "Can't you wait?" He forced the words out between his teeth. "Can't you wait till we have time to think of something for you?"
Cain was startled at his father's appearance and agreed. "When will you let me go then?" he asked.
"You shall soon see," said Fausch in the same troubled tone.