Ted suddenly decided to be frank.
“Nat, according to Caleb, he thinks you’re unhappily married because your wife has never had much of a chance to see other kind of existence but life in a little town like Paris. Old Cal believed that if you and Mildred could settle in some place like Boston or New York, where Mildred could get out among people, it would change her so much and broaden her so, that you and she might be drawn closer together. Don’t take offense. We might as well talk things frankly.”
“What’s your proposition?” asked Nathan.
“I’ve told you! Running our New York office in Fred Mosely’s place.”
“That’s quite a step from my present job, Ted.”
“We think you may be more adapted for it; you had a great knack of handling help while you and your father were in business here. There’s a salary of eight thousand a year attached to it but in New York you’ll find you’ll need it. And of course dad will always expect you to earn it. But it’ll be a complete change and give your wife a new interest in—things. How about it?”
“Whew!” cried Nathan. “I don’t know what to say!”
And he didn’t.
Three weeks later, however, he and Milly went down to New York, Nathan to “look over” the New York office of the Thorne Mills and decide whether he felt capable of filling the position.