t! I've got to talk to
somebody. At least, I feel that way just now. Let's suppose a case.
Suppose you were a young fellow not long out of college--a young fellow
whose mother was dead and whose dad was rich, and head over heels in
money-making, and with the idea that his will was no more to be disputed
than a law of the Almighty. Just suppose that, will you?"

"Huh! Well, 'twill be hard supposin', but I'll try. Heave ahead."

"Suppose that you'd never been used to working or supporting yourself.
Had a position, a nominal one, in your dad's office but absolutely no
responsibility, all the money you wanted, and so on. Suppose because
your father wanted you to--and HER people felt the same--you had become
engaged to a girl, a nice enough girl, too, in her way. But, then
suppose that little by little you came to realize that her way wasn't
yours. You and she liked each other well enough, but the whole thing
was a family arrangement, a money arrangement, a perfectly respectable,
buy-and-sell affair. That and nothing else. And the more you thought
about it, the surer you felt that it was so. But when you told your
governor he got on his ear and sailed into you, and you sailed back,
until finally he swore that you should either marry that girl or he'd
throw you out of his house and office to root for yourself. What would
you do?"

"Hey? Land sakes! I don't know. I always HAD to root, so I ain't a
competent judge. Go on, you've got me interested."

"Well, I said I'd root, that's all. But I didn't have the nerve to go
and tell the girl. The engagement had been announced, and all that, and
I knew what a mess it would make for her. I sat in my room, among
the things I was packing in my grip to take with me, and thought and
thought. If I went to her there would be a scene. If I said I had been
disinherited she would want to know why--naturally. I had quarreled
with the governor--yes, but why? Then I should have to tell her the
real reason: I didn't want to marry her or anybody else on such a
bargain-counter basis. That seemed such a rotten thing to say, and she
might ask why it had taken me such a long time to find it out. No, I
just COULDN'T tell her that. So, after my think was over, I wrote her
a note saying that my father and I had had a disagreement and he
had chucked me out, or words to that effect. Naturally, under the
circumstances, marriage was out of the question, and I released her from
the engagement. Good by and g