“No. My trade isn’t farming, to be sure, but such as it is, I work steadily at it. I’m sober; I don’t drink, and I trust that I’m no worse than most men of my age.” “That may all be true; I know nothing of thy habits, but this I do know,—that thee ran away from home once; what surety have I that thee won’t do it again?” Tom made a motion as though to interrupt him, but Elihu held up his hand; “I know! I know!” said he; “thee don’t feel, just now, as though such a thing could happen; but my observation has led me to find that what a man will do once, he may do again. Besides all this, thy trade must unsettle thy life more or less; thee knows the old saying,—‘a rolling stone gathers no moss.’” “I don’t know why a man should want to stay long enough in one place to get moss-grown,” said Tom. “That is all very well,” said Elihu Penrose, “but we hereabouts have been content to grow green in the same place that our fathers grew green before us. So, I tell thee plainly, I wish that Patty had chosen some one that I know better than I do thee. Of course, I shan’t bridle her choice, but I wish that it had been Isaac Naylor. I believe that she would have chosen him if thee hadn’t come home amongst us.” There was a time of silence between them in which both were sunk deeply in thought; then Tom spoke very bitterly: “I see thee don’t like me.” “Thee’s wrong to say that, Thomas,” said Elihu; “I have no dislike for thee at all.” “It looks very much as though thee had.” “I don’t see that at all. I want to see my daughter well settled in the world,—that’s all.” “I should think that thy daughter’s happiness would weigh more with thee than anything else.” “It does,” said Elihu, somewhat sternly, “and I hope that I shall know what is best for her happiness without being taught by any man, young or old.” “I had no thought to teach thee.” Silence followed this, till, after a while, Elihu spoke again. “However,” said he, “all this is neither here nor there; Patty’s chosen thee from amongst the rest, and she must lie upon the bed that she’s made for herself, for I don’t see that I can justly interfere. I can only make myself sure that thee is able to support a wife, before thee marries her. How much does thee make a year?” “About five hundred for pay. Maybe I could make a couple of hundred more in the way of trade here and there, if I keep my wits about me.” “Does thy trade bring thee in forty dollars a month now?” “About that.” Elihu, sunk in thought, looked at Tom for a while, without speaking. Tom stood looking at his finger-tips, very unhappy and troubled in his mind. After a while the absent look left Elihu’s eyes, and he spoke again.