"High-sounding nonsense. I could pick up almost any bootblack and make a good business man of him."
"But you can"t pick up almost any boy and make a good bootblack of him. The bootblack is already a business man in embryo."
Witherspoon did not reply to this statement. He mused for a few moments and then remarked: "If it weren"t too late we might make a preacher of you."
Mrs. Witherspoon"s countenance brightened. "I am sure he would make a good one," she said. "My grandfather was a minister, and we have a book of his sermons now, somewhere. If you want it, my son, I will get it for you."
"Not to-night, mother."
"I didn"t mean to-night. Ellen, what _are_ you giggling at?"
"Why, mother, he would rather smoke that old black pipe than to read any book that was ever printed."
"When I saw the pipe that had robbed Kittymunks of his coat," said Henry, "I thought of my pipe tied with a ribbon."
During the remainder of the evening Witherspoon joined not in the conversation, he sat brooding, and when bed-time came, he stood in his accustomed place on the hearth-rug and wound his watch, still appearing to gaze at something far away.
CHAPTER XXIII.
HENRY"S INCONSISTENCY.
Snorting March came as if blown in off the icy lake, and oozy April fell from the clouds. How weary we grow of winter in a cold land, and how loath is winter to permit the coming of spring! May stole in from the south. There came a warm rain, and the next morning strips of green were stretched along the boulevards.
Nature had unrolled double widths of carpet during the night, and at sunset a yellow b.u.t.ton lay where the ground had been harsh so long--a dandelion. An old man, in whom this blithe air stirred a recollection of an amative past, sat on a bench in the park, watching the flirtations of thrill-blooded youth, and pale mothers, housed so long with fretful children, turned loose their cares upon the gra.s.s. It was a lolling-time, a time to lose one"s self in the blue above, or sweetly muse over the green below.
One night a hot wind came, and the nest morning was summer. The horse that had drawn coal during the winter, now hitched to an ice wagon, died in the street. The pavements throbbed, the bas.e.m.e.nt restaurants exhaled a sickening air, and through the grating was blown the cellar"s cool and mouldy breath; and the sanitary writer on the editorial page cried out: "Boil your drinking-water!"
It was Witherspoon"s custom, during the heated term, to take his wife and his daughter to the seaside, and to return when the weather there became insufferably hot. It was supposed that Henry would go, but when the time came he declared that he had in view a piece of work that most not be neglected. Witherspoon recognized the urgency of no work except his own. "What, you can"t go!" he exclaimed. "What do you mean by "can"t go"?"
"I mean simply that it is not convenient for me to get away at this time."
"And is it your scheme now to act entirely upon your own convenience?
Can"t you sometimes pull far enough away from yourself to forget your own convenience?"
"Oh, yes, but I can"t very well forget that on this occasion it is almost impossible for me to get away. Of course you don"t understand this, and I am afraid that if I should try I couldn"t make it very clear to you."
"Oh, you needn"t make any explanation to me, I a.s.sure you. I had planned an enjoyment for your mother and sister, and if you desire to interfere with it, I have nothing more to say."
"I have no business that shall interfere with their enjoyment," Henry replied. "I"m ready to go at any time."
The next day Witherspoon said: "Henry, if you have decided to go, there is no use of my leaving home."
"Now there"s no need of all this sacrifice," Mrs. Witherspoon protested, "for the truth is I don"t want to go anyway. During the hot weather I am never so comfortable anywhere as I am at home. My son, you shall not go on my account; and as for Ellen, she can go with some of our friends. But, father, I do think that you need rest."
"Very true," he admitted, "but unfortunately we can"t drop a worry and run away from it."
"But what is worrying you now?"
"_Everything_. Nothing goes on as it should, and every day it seems that a new annoyance takes hold of me."
"In your time you have advised many a man to be sensible," said Henry, "and now if you please, permit a man who has never been very sensible to advise you." Witherspoon looked at him. "My advice is, be sensible."
In a fretful resentment Witherspoon jerked his shoulder as if with muscular force he sought a befitting reply, but he said nothing and Henry continued: "This may be impudence on my part, but in impudence there may lie a good intention and a piece of advice that may not be bad. The worry of a strong man is a sign of danger. The truth is that if you keep on this way you"ll break down."
"None of you know what you are talking about," Witherspoon declared.
"I"m as strong as I ever was. I"m simply annoyed, that"s all."
"Why don"t you see the doctor?" his wife asked.
"What do I want to see him for? What does he know about it? Don"t you worry. I"m all right."
His fretfulness was not continuous. Sometimes his spirits rose to exceeding liveliness, and then he laughed at the young man and joked him about Miss Miller. But a single word, however lightly spoken, served to turn him back to peevishness. One evening Henry remarked that he was compelled to leave town on the day following and that he might be absent nearly a week.
"Why, how is this?" Witherspoon asked, with a sudden change of manner.
"The other day you almost swore that it was impossible for you to leave home, and now you are compelled to go. What do you mean?"
"I have business out of town, and it demands my attention."
"_Business_ out of town. The other day you despised business; now you"ve got business out of town. I"ll take an oath right now that you are the strangest mortal I ever struck."
"I admit the appearance of inconsistency," Henry replied.
"And I _know_ the existence of it," Witherspoon rejoined.
"You think so. The truth is that the affair I now have on hand had something to do with my objecting to leave town last week."
"Why don"t you tell me what it is?"
"I will when the time is ripe."
The merchant grunted. "Is it a love affair?"
Mrs. Witherspoon became newly concerned. "In one sense, yes," Henry answered. "It is the love of justice."
Witherspoon called his wife"s attention by clearing his throat.
"Madam, I may be wrong, but it strikes me that your son is crazy. Good night."
Henry left town the next morning. He went to New Jersey.
CHAPTER XXIV.