“I don’t know,” said he of the broadcloth coat, “but that you made the better choice, after all.  You have time to be happy; you have a quiet that I know nothing about—­in truth, I should not know how to enjoy it if I had it.”

“The lack of it, then,” replied his brother, “can be no hardship.  I have often regretted that I did not secure the advantages of a liberal education when they were within my reach.”

“That is an unwise as well as a useless regret.  If you had gone to college, you would, as a matter of course, have chosen one of the learned professions.  Your talents and industry would, doubtless, have secured to you a good measure of success; but you would often have sighed for the peace and rest of the old farmhouse.  Remember, too, that it and these lands would have passed into the hands of strangers.”

“Perhaps you are right.  Still, as I am now situated, I should be very glad to have the advantages and influence which a liberal education would bestow.”

“I think you overrate those advantages.  You are substantially a well educated man; and you can now command leisure to add to your information.  If you should be in want of any books which it may not be convenient for you to purchase, it will give me great pleasure to procure them for you.  I can do so without the slightest inconvenience.”

“I am greatly obliged to you; and, if it should be necessary, I will, without hesitation, avail myself of your kind offer.  I feel the deficiency of my education most sensibly in respect to my daughter.  I find myself incompetent to take the direction of her opening mind.”

“That is the very point I wish to speak upon.  You must, my good brother allow me to take charge of her education.  I owe it to you for keeping the old homestead in the family.  It will give me great pleasure to afford her the very best advantages.  Let me take her to the city with me on my return.”

“We may, perhaps, differ in our estimate of advantages.  I can conceive of none at present sufficiently great to compensate for the loss of her mother’s society and example.”

“No doubt these are very valuable; but girls must go away from home to complete their education, especially if they live in the country.  Even in the city, a great many parents place their daughters in boarding-schools, and that, too, when the school is not half a mile distant from their residence.”

“A great many parents, both in the city and country, do many things which I would not do.”

“You are willing to do what is for the best interests of your child.”

“Certainly.”

“If you will allow Susan to go with me to New York, I will place her at the first school in the city.  She shall have a home at my house; and my wife will, for the time being, supply the place of her mother.”

“I fully appreciate your kind intentions; but I could almost as soon think of parting with the sunlight as with Susan.”