spoken to him.

"Yes; it is serious--about as serious a thing as a man can think of; but
a man cannot put it off on that account. If I mean to make such a change
in my plans, the sooner I do it the better."

"But yesterday you were in another mind."

"No, father, not in another mind. I did not tell you then, nor can I
tell you all now. I had thought that I should want my money for another
purpose for a year or two; but that I have abandoned."

"Is the purpose a secret, Harry?"

"It is a secret, because it concerns another person."

"You were going to lend your money to some one?"

"I must keep it a secret, though you know I seldom have any secrets from
you. That idea, however, is abandoned, and I mean to go over to Stratton
to-morrow, and tell Mr. Burton that I shall be there after Christmas. I
must be at St. Cuthbert's on Tuesday."

Then they both sat silent for a while, silently blowing out their clouds
of smoke. The son had said all that he cared to say, and would have
wished that there might then be an end of it; but he knew that his
father had much on his mind, and would fain express, if he could express
it without too much trouble, or without too evident a need of
self-reproach, his own thoughts on the subject. "You have made up your
mind, then, altogether that you do not like the church as a profession,"