Halleck frowned impatiently; he would not meet the gaze of his mother and sisters, but he addressed himself again to his father. “I don't know that I was in earnest.” His mother dropped her eyes to her mending, with a faint sigh of relief. “But I can't say,” he added, “that I was joking, exactly. The man himself was very serious about it.” He stopped, apparently to govern an irritable impulse, and then he went on to set the project of his Spanish-American acquaintance before them, explaining it in detail. At the end, “That's good,” said his father, “but why need _you_ have gone, Ben?” The question seemed to vex Halleck; he did not answer at once. His mother could not bear to see him crossed, and she came to his help against herself and his father, since it was only supposing the case. “I presume,” she said, “that we could have looked at it as a missionary work.” “It isn't a missionary work, mother,” answered Halleck, severely, “in any sense that you mean. I should go down there to teach, and I should be paid for it. And I want to say at once that they have no yellow-fever nor earthquakes, and that they have not had a revolution for six years. The country's perfectly safe every way, and so wholesome that it will be a good thing for me. But I shouldn't expect to convert anybody.” “Of course not, Ben,” said his mother, soothingly. “I hope you wouldn't object to it if it _were_ a missionary work,” said one of the elder sisters. “No, Anna,” returned Ben. “I merely wanted to know,” said Anna. “Then I hope you're satisfied, Anna,” Olive cut in. “Ben won't refuse to convert the Uruguayans if they apply in a proper spirit.” “I think Anna had a right to ask,” said Miss Louisa, the eldest. “Oh, undoubtedly, Miss Halleck,” said Olive. “I like to see Ben reproved for misbehavior to his mother, myself.” Her father laughed at Olive's prompt defence. “Well, it's a cause that we've all got to respect; but I don't see why _you_ should go, Ben, as I said before. It would do very well for some young fellow who had no settled prospects, but you've got your duties here. I presume you looked at it in that light. As you said in your letter, you've fooled away so much time on leather and law--” “I shall never amount to anything in the law!” Ben broke out. His mother looked at him in anxiety; his father kept a steady smile on his face; Olive sat alert for any chance that offered to put down her elder sisters, who drew in their breath, and grew silently a little primmer. “I'm not well--” “Oh, I know you're not, dear,” interrupted his mother, glad of another chance to abet him. “I'm not strong enough to go on with the line of work I've marked out, and I feel that I'm throwing away the feeble powers I have.”