"Oh, I see," Walter said. "She told mother and mother told you."
"No, neither of 'em have told me anything. What was there to tell?"
Walter laughed. "Oh, it's nothin'," he said. "I was just startin' out to buy a girl friend o' mine a rhinestone buckle I lost to her on a bet, this afternoon, and Alice came along with that big Russell fish; and I thought she looked sore. She expects me to like the kind she likes, and I don't like 'em. I thought she'd prob'ly got you all stirred up about it."
"No, no," his father said, peevishly. "I don't know anything about it, and I don't care to know anything about it. I want to talk to you about something important."
Then, as he was again silent, Walter said, "Well, talk about it; I'm listening."
"It's this," Adams began, heavily. "It's about me going into this glue business. Your mother's told you, hasn't she?"
"She said you were goin' to leave the old place down-town and start a glue factory. That's all I know about it; I got my own affairs to 'tend to."
"Well, this is your affair," his father said, frowning, "You can't stay with Lamb and Company."
