Now, my idea
is that I ought to cut Tom off with a shilling.
That would be very simple, and it would be economical.
But you would never consent, and Tom wouldn't mind it."
"I think our whole conduct in regard to such things
is wrong," said Mrs. Corey.
"Oh, very likely. But our whole civilisation is based upon it.
And who is going to make a beginning? To which father
in our acquaintance shall I go and propose an alliance
for Tom with his daughter? I should feel like an ass.
And will you go to some mother, and ask her sons in
marriage for our daughters? You would feel like a goose.
No; the only motto for us is, Hands off altogether."
"I shall certainly speak to Tom when the time comes,"
said Mrs. Corey.
"And I shall ask leave to be absent from your discomfiture,
my dear," answered her husband.
The son returned that afternoon, and confessed his
surprise at finding his mother in Boston. He was so
frank that she had not quite the courage to confess
in turn why she had come, but trumped up an excuse.
"Well, mother," he said promptly, "I have made an engagement
with Mr. Lapham."
"Have you, Tom?" she asked faintly.
"Yes. For the present I am going to have charge of his
foreign correspondence, and if I see my way to the
advantage I expect to find in it, I am going out to manage
that side of his business in South America and Mexico.
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