think as a rule. Thinking bores me. This time, I had to . . . because Mamma had spoken as she did. Yes, you are bound to be unhappy . . . if you still care . . . for both of us."
"I tell you again, Dad . . ."
"Yes, I know. But I, Addie, I should be unhappy . . . afterwards, when it had once happened . . . I should be unhappy . . . because of you."
"Because of me?"
"Because of you. You would no longer have a home."
"I should have two homes."
"No, no, you would have none. You would go wandering to and fro between your parents. True, you will soon be a man. You will soon be leaving your parents. But I do feel now that you would have no home and that you would have a father and a mother . . . but no parents. Do you follow me? No parents. Even though they quarrel, you have parents now. Perhaps, in a few years, you won't care about them . . . and about their home. But just now, Addie, just for the present, you would be losing a great deal . . . You see, old chap, your father has thought it all out . . . and I frankly confess, it's made me dog-tired. I'm resting now, while I tell it you like this, leaning up against you."
"Yes, Dad."
"My boy, my own boy! . . . Well, you see, when
