‘I will write to him as soon as I see my way. I suppose this is all you have to tell me?’
‘There is only one other trifling matter. I hope we have made you clearly understand that Mr Shield does not insist upon anything. He merely expresses a wish.’
‘And I have told you how I regard his wishes—as fixed conditions of my being thought worthy of all this generosity.’
‘He is emphatic in desiring that you shall not regard them as conditions, but as mere indications of what he would be most pleased to see you do.’
‘Well, what is the remaining wish or condition? It is all the same what we call it.’
‘It is, that in the event of your entering into business, he would like you to remember how much more freely and independently a man may act when unshackled by domestic ties. In short, he would like you to remain a bachelor for the first two or three years, until you have firmly established your position.’
‘Oh!’ exclaimed Philip in a soft crescendo scale; whilst Mr Jackson nodded and grinned, as if there were a good joke somewhere. ‘I cannot promise that.’
‘No promise is required; and Mr Shield would not consider it binding if you made it.’
‘I am not likely to make it,’ was the reply, with a hesitating laugh; ‘but this may seriously affect my decision.’
Mr Hawkins was unable to conceive any possible decision except one, and was again gravely effusive in his congratulations. Mr Jackson, shaking hands with Philip at the door, expressed his unqualified approval of the whole scheme in one short phrase: ‘You are a lucky dog.’