“I merely wanted to know,” said Anna.
“Then I hope you're satisfied, Anna,” Olive cut in. “Ben won't refuse to convert the Uruguayans if they apply in a proper spirit.”
“I think Anna had a right to ask,” said Miss Louisa, the eldest.
“Oh, undoubtedly, Miss Halleck,” said Olive. “I like to see Ben reproved for misbehavior to his mother, myself.”
Her father laughed at Olive's prompt defence. “Well, it's a cause that we've all got to respect; but I don't see why you should go, Ben, as I said before. It would do very well for some young fellow who had no settled prospects, but you've got your duties here. I presume you looked at it in that light. As you said in your letter, you've fooled away so much time on leather and law—”
“I shall never amount to anything in the law!” Ben broke out. His mother looked at him in anxiety; his father kept a steady smile on his face; Olive sat alert for any chance that offered to put down her elder sisters, who drew in their breath, and grew silently a little primmer. “I'm not well—”
“Oh, I know you're not, dear,” interrupted his mother, glad of another chance to abet him.
“I'm not strong enough to go on with the line of work I've marked out, and I feel that I'm throwing away the feeble powers I have.”
His father answered with less surprise than Halleck had evidently expected, for he had thrown out his words with a sort of defiance; probably the old man had watched him closely enough to surmise that it might come to this with him at last. At any rate, he was able to say, without seeming to assent too readily, “Well, well, give up the law, then, and come back into leather, as you call it. Or take up something else. We don't wish to make anything a burden to you; but take up some useful work at home. There are plenty of things to be done.”
“Not for me,” said Halleck, gloomily.