"What's this? I don't understand."
"Certainly you do not; no sensible person would. I showed it to my
young gentleman, and requested an explanation. 'Oh,' he said, 'when
you told me to write to Troy, it made me think of those lines.' He
added that not wishing to forget them, he wrote them down on a sheet
of paper, and that probably he used the other side of the sheet for
the Troy letter--'by mistake.' 'Mistake, sir!' I said, 'a sufficient
number of mistakes will send me out of business.'"
"Samuel," said Dr. Lavendar thoughtfully, "do you recall whose face it
was that 'launched the thousand ships' on Troy?"
Samuel shook his head, "Helen's" said Dr. Lavendar.
The senior warden frowned, then suddenly understood. "Oh, yes, I know
all about that. Another evidence of his folly!"
"I've no doubt you feel like spanking him," Dr. Lavendar said
sympathetically, "but--" he stopped short. Sam Wright was crimson.
"I! Spank him? I?" He got up, opening and shutting his hands,
his face very red. The old minister looked at him in consternation.
"Sam! what on earth is the matter with you? Can't a man have his
joke?"
Mr. Wright sat down. He put his hand to his mouth as though to hide
some trembling betrayal; his very ears were purple.
Dr. Lavendar apologized profusely. "I was only in fun. I'm sure you
know that I meant no disrespect to the boy. I only wanted to cheer you
up."
"I understand, sir; it is of no consequence. I--I had something else
on my mind. It is of no consequence." The color faded, and his face
fell into its usual bleak lines, but his mouth twitched. A minute
afterwards he began to speak with ponderous dignity. "This love-making
business is, of course, most mortifying to me; and also, no doubt,
annoying to Mrs. Richie. To begin with, she is eleven years older than
he--he told his mother so. He added, if you please! that he hoped to
marry her."
"Well! Well!" said Dr. Lavendar.
"I told him," Mr. Wright continued, "that in my very humble opinion it
was contemptible for a man to marry and allow another man to support
his wife."
Dr. Lavendar sat up in shocked dismay. "Samuel!"
"I, sir," the banker explained, "am his father, and I support him. If
he marries, I shall have to support his wife. According to my poor
theories of propriety, a man who lets another man support his wife had
better not have one."