born all my life. Oh, it
was cruel to let me be engaged to her! You blame me; don't you think
all of you are a little to blame as well?"

"What could we have done?"

"Why didn't you tell me not to be hasty? Why didn't you say that I was
too young to become engaged?"

"We thought it would steady you."

"But a young man doesn't want to be steadied. Let him see life and taste
all it has to offer. It is wicked to put fetters on his wrists before
ever he has seen anything worth taking. What is the virtue that exists
only because temptation is impossible!"

"I can't understand you, Jamie," said Mrs. Parsons, sadly. "You talk so
differently from when you were a boy."

"Did you expect me to remain all my life an ignorant child. You've never
given me any freedom. You've hemmed me in with every imaginable barrier.
You've put me on a leading-string, and thanked God that I did not
stray."

"We tried to bring you up like a good man, and a true Christian."

"If I'm not a hopeless prig, it's only by miracle."

"James, that's not the way to talk to your mother," said Major Forsyth.

"Oh, mother, I'm sorry; I don't want to be unkind to you. But we must
talk things out freely; we've lived in a hot-house too long."

"I don't know what you mean. You became engaged to Mary of your own free
will; we did nothing to hinder it, nothing to bring it about. But I
confess we were heartily thankful, thinking that no influence could be
better for you than the love of a pure, sweet English girl."

"It would have been kinder and wiser if you had forbidden it."

"We could not have taken the responsibility of crossing your
affections."

"Mrs. Clibborn did."

"Could you expect us to be guided by her?"

"She was the only one who showed the least common sense."

"How you have changed, Jamie!"

"I would have obeyed you if you had told me I was too young to become
engaged. After all, you are more responsible than I am. I was a child.
It was cruel to let me bind myself."

"I never thought you would speak to us like that."

"All that's ancient history," said Major Forsyth, with what he flattered
himself was a very good assumption of jocularity. It was his idea to
treat the matter lightly, as a man of the world naturally would. But his
interruption was unnoticed.

"We acted for the best. You know that we have always had your interests
at heart."

James did not speak, for his only answer would have been bitter.
Throughout, they had be