I’d like to know? If you can allege a single reason—No; I knew it. Then it’s a go, eh? Because I count on you to ring up the Cunard office first thing tomorrow; and you’d better book a return on a boat from Marseilles. I say, Dad; it’ll be our last time together, in this kind of way—. Oh, good! I knew you would.”
Chicago rang off, and Archer rose and began to pace up and down the room.
It would be their last time together in this kind of way: the boy was right. They would have lots of other “times” after Dallas’s marriage, his father was sure; for the two were born comrades, and Fanny Beaufort, whatever one might think of her, did not seem likely to interfere with their intimacy. On the contrary, from what he had seen of her, he thought she would be naturally included in it. Still, change was change, and differences were differences, and much as he felt himself drawn toward his future daughter-in-law, it was tempting to seize this last chance of being alone with his boy.