“No, sir.”
“Did you seek it?”
Sam shook his head. “She was out, and I—well, I didn’t wait for her to come home.”
“I see. By the way, were you under an impression that I had ever authorized such an expedition?”
“No, sir,” said Sam frankly. “But, then, you’d never forbidden it,” he added.
“There are several things it has never occurred to me to forbid you to do,” said his father drily.
Sam nodded. “That’s so, sir. I don’t think much of the excuse.”
“There we are of a mind. So you must have realized that you were doing wrong.”
“I didn’t bother—think, I mean—about that part of it; that is, I didn’t seem to comprehend how wrong the thing might be. Of course, I understood that it wasn’t exactly—exactly proper.” Sam had difficulty in picking the word, and did not appear to be over-pleased with his choice.
“Go on,” said his father. “Tell me just what you did when you reached the Marlow woods.”