is consent from
any of Rollo's proposals, Rollo always submitted at once, without making
any difficulty, even when he thought that his uncle was wrong, and that
he might have consented as well as not.

It was not altogether principle on the part of Rollo, that made him
pursue this course; it was in a great measure policy.

"I like travelling about the world with uncle George," he used to say to
himself, "and in order that I may travel with him a great deal, I must
make it for his interest to take me. That is, I must manage so that he
will have a better time when I am with him, than when he goes alone; and
in order to do this, I must take care never to give him any trouble or
concern of any kind on my account. I must comply with his wishes in
every thing, and be satisfied with such pleasures and enjoyments as he
fully approves."

Rollo did not think of this altogether of himself. It was his father
that put the idea into his mind. He did it in a conversation that he had
with Rollo the day before he set out on the journey.

"Rollo, my boy," said he, "in going on this journey into Italy with your
uncle George, there is one danger that you will have to look out for
very carefully."

"Getting robbed by the brigands?" asked Rollo.

"No," said Mr. Holiday; "it is something very different from that, and a
great deal worse. That is to say, the evil that you have to fear from it
is a great deal worse than any thing that would probably happen to you
by being robbed. The danger is of your having too much independence, or,
rather, a wrong kind of independence. What is independence?"

Rollo reflected a moment in order properly to frame his answer to his
father's question. He thought he knew very well what the meaning of the
word _independence_ was, but he did not readily know how to clothe the
meaning in language. At last he said that he thought independence was
doing what you thought was best yourself, without regard to what other
people thought.

"Very well," said his father. "That's a pretty good definition of it.
And now, do you think it is a good quality, or a bad quality?"

"A good quality," said Rollo; "that is, I suppose it is good," he added,
hesitatingly, "but I don't know."

"It depends upon circumstances," said Mr. Holiday. "Should you think
that firing his gun when _he_ thought best, instead of when the
_captain_ thought best, was a good thing in a soldier, on the field of
battle?"

"No, sir," said Rollo.