Tom Tufton's Travels by Evelyn Everett-Green
page 13 of 269 (04%)
page 13 of 269 (04%)
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"You do not like the arrangement, Tom; and yet I know it is the best which can be made." "Oh yes, in a way. I see what you mean. I don't understand scraping and paring myself; yet, of course, it will be best to get the mortgage paid off once and for all. I can see that well enough. But I confess it will be poor fun living at Gablehurst as a little boy tied to his mother's apron strings. I would rather go away altogether, and see the world for myself." "Well, Tom," answered the father in the same low, even tones, "your mother and I have sometimes asked ourselves seriously whether you might not do better away from home; whether it might not be the best thing we could do for you to sever you from your present companions, and see if you could not find better ones elsewhere." "I have no fault to find with my friends," said Tom quickly. "No, my son, I fear not. But we have much to complain of." "I don't see what!" cried young Tom rather hotly. "That is the worst of it. Did you see greater harm, our anxieties would be less. But what are we to think of these cruel sports in which you indulge, these scenes of vice and drunkenness where you are constantly found? Even the Sabbath is not sacred to you. What is this story we hear of you--that no girl may even go to church without paying 'Tom Tufton's toll' at the lych gate?" |
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