"You must do something for yourself. You can not expect to eat
the bread of idleness. I have done, and will do for you what I
can--whatever is necessary;--but I have my own family to provide
for. I can not rob my own child---"
"Nor do I expect it, Mr. Clifford," I replied hastily, and with some
indignation. "It is my wish, sir, to draw as little as possible
from your income and resources. I would not rob Julia Clifford of
a single dollar. Nay, sir, I trust before many years to be able
to refund you every copper which has been spent upon me from the
moment I entered your household."
He said hastily:-"I wish nothing of that, Edward;--but the law is a study of years,
and is expensive and unpromising in every respect. Your clothes
already call for a considerable sum, and such a profession requires,
more than almost any other, that a student should be well dressed."
"I promise you, sir, that my dress shall be such as shall not
trespass upon your income. I shall be governed by as much economy--"
He interrupted me to say, that "His duty required that his brother's son should be dressed as well
as his associates."
I replied, with tolerable composure:-"I do not think, sir, that bricklaying will admit of very genteel
clothing, nor do I think that the vocation will suit me. I have
flattered myself, sir, that my talents--"
"Oh, you have talents, then, have you? Well, it is fortunate that
the discovery has been made in season."
I bore with this, though my cheek was burning, and said--with
an effort to preserve my voice and temper, in which, though the
difficulty was great, I was tolerably successful-"You have misunderstood me in some things, Mr. Clifford; and I will
try now to explain myself clearly in others. Having resolved, sir,
that the law shall be my profession---"
"Ha! resolved, say you?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, go on--go on!"
"Having resolved to pursue the study of law, and seeing that I am
burdensome and expensive to you--believing, too, that I can relieve
you of the burden--I have simply requested permission of you to
make the attempt."
"Why, how do you propose to do so?--how can you support yourself--that
is relieve me of the burden of your expenses--and study the law at
the same time?"
"Such things have been done, sir; and can be done again. I flatter
myself I can do it. Industry will enable me to do so. I propose to
apply for a clerkship in a mercantile establishment which I know
stands in need of assistance, and while there will pursue my studies
in such intervals of leisure as the business will afford me."