SCOTT. (_looks from one to the other of them with a puzzled air. Finally he is unable to bear the thick silence a minute longer, and blurts out_): You folks look as if you was settin’ up with a corpse. (_With exaggerated concern_) God A’mighty, there ain’t anyone dead, be there? MAYO. (_sharply_) Don’t play the dunce, Dick! You know as well as we do there ain’t no great cause to be feelin’ chipper. SCOTT. (_argumentatively_) And there ain’t no cause to be wearin’ mourning, either, I can make out. MRS. MAYO. (_indignantly_) How can you talk that way, Dick Scott, when you’re taking our Robbie away from us, in the middle of the night, you might say, just to get on that old boat of yours on time! I think you might wait until morning when he’s had his breakfast. SCOTT. (_appealing to the others hopelessly_) Ain’t that a woman’s way o’ seein’ things for you? God A’mighty, Kate, I can’t give orders to the tide that it’s got to be high just when it suits me to have it. I ain’t gettin’ no fun out o’ missin’ sleep and leavin’ here at six bells myself. (_Protestingly_) And the _Sunda_ ain’t an old ship--leastways, not very old--and she’s good’s she ever was. MRS. MAYO. (_her lips trembling_) I wish Robbie weren’t going. MAYO. (_looking at her over his glasses--consolingly_) There, Katey! MRS. MAYO. (_rebelliously_) Well, I do wish he wasn’t! SCOTT. You shouldn’t be taking it so hard, ’s far as I kin see. This vige’ll make a man of him. I’ll see to it he learns how to navigate, ’n’ study for a mate’s c’tificate right off--and it’ll give him a trade for the rest of his life, if he wants to travel. MRS. MAYO. But I don’t want him to travel all his life. You’ve got to see he comes home when this trip is over. Then he’ll be all well, and he’ll want to--to marry--(ANDREW _sits forward in his chair with an abrupt movement_)--and settle down right here. (_She stares down at the knitting in her lap--after a pause_) I never realized how hard it was going to be for me to have Robbie go--or I wouldn’t have considered it a minute. SCOTT. It ain’t no good goin’ on that way, Kate, now it’s all settled. MRS. MAYO. (_on the verge of tears_) It’s all right for _you_ to talk. You’ve never had any children. You don’t know what it means to be parted from them--and Robbie my youngest, too. (ANDREW _frowns and fidgets in his chair_). ANDREW. (_suddenly turning to them_) There’s one thing none of you seem to take into consideration--that Rob wants to go. He’s dead set on it. He’s been dreaming over this trip ever since it was first talked about. It wouldn’t be fair to him not to have him go. (_A sudden uneasiness seems to strike him_) At least, not if he still feels the same way about it he did when he was talking to me this evening.