Page 280 - sons-and-lovers

for me they would let me go back with you. I was a fool when
I did it. I don’t want to be in the army. My dear mother, I am
nothing but a trouble to you. But if you get me out of this, I
promise I will have more sense and consideration….’’
Mrs. Morel sat down in her rocking-chair.
‘Well, NOW,’ she cried, ‘let him stop!’
‘Yes,’ said Paul, ‘let him stop.’
There was silence. The mother sat with her hands folded
in her apron, her face set, thinking.
‘If I’m not SICK!’ she cried suddenly. ‘Sick!’
‘Now,’ said Paul, beginning to frown, ‘you’re not going to
worry your soul out about this, do you hear.’
‘I suppose I’m to take it as a blessing,’ she flashed, turn-
ing on her son.
‘You’re not going to mount it up to a tragedy, so there,’
he retorted.
‘The FOOL!—the young fool!’ she cried.
‘He’ll look well in uniform,’ said Paul irritatingly.
His mother turned on him like a fury.
‘Oh, will he!’ she cried. ‘Not in my eyes!’
‘He should get in a cavalry regiment; he’ll have the time
of his life, and will look an awful swell.’
‘Swell!—SWELL!—a mighty swell idea indeed!—a com-
mon soldier!’
‘Well,’ said Paul, ‘what am I but a common clerk?’
‘A good deal, my boy!’ cried his mother, stung.
‘What?’
‘At any rate, a MAN, and not a thing in a red coat.’
‘I shouldn’t mind being in a red coat—or dark blue, that