"I was merely thinking whether it might not begin to
seem intentional, your not doing it."
"Well, Tom, you know I have been leaving it altogether
to you----"
"Oh, I understand, of course, and I didn't mean to urge
anything of the kind----"
"You are so very much more of a Bostonian than I am, you know,
that I've been waiting your motion in entire confidence
that you would know just what to do, and when to do it.
If I had been left quite to my own lawless impulses,
I think I should have called upon your padrone at once.
It seems to me that my father would have found some way of
showing that he expected as much as that from people placed
in the relation to him that we hold to Colonel Lapham."
"Do you think so?" asked the young man.
"Yes. But you know I don't pretend to be an authority
in such matters. As far as they go, I am always
in the hands of your mother and you children."
"I'm very sorry, sir. I had no idea I was over-ruling
your judgment. I only wanted to spare you a formality
that didn't seem quite a necessity yet. I'm very sorry,"
he said again, and this time with more comprehensive regret.
"I shouldn't like to have seemed remiss with a man who has
been so considerate of me. They are all very good-natured."
"I dare say," said Bromfield Corey, with the satisfaction
which no elder can help feeling in disabling the judgment
of a younger man, "that it won't be too late if I go
down to your office with you to-morrow.
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