"I'll do it!" Hamlen said decisively. "With a definite purpose like this ahead of me, I'll shake this weakness in no time.—How about the boys? I'll need some chauffeurs."
"Not Philip!" Mrs. Thatcher cried.
"Let me have him, Marian?" Hamlen begged. "The personal danger will be slight, and I don't need tell you that I'll watch over him as if he were my own son."
She looked appealingly to her husband.
"I'd let him go," Thatcher said. "There's no chance for him to get started in business for several months yet, and I'm grateful to Hamlen for offering him this opportunity under such wonderful conditions."
Philip pleaded. "You won't hold out now, will you, Mother?"
"I can't," she answered soberly. "With your father's approval, and with Mr. Hamlen's assurances, I should surely be opposing Nature, shouldn't I?"
Her question was put to Huntington, who understood it. He smiled approvingly.
"Good for you, little woman," he whispered. "There are times when we must bow to something stronger than ourselves; this is one of them."
"How about me?" Billy demanded.