"We ought to go off and live somewhere together," the young man said.
"I'll go like a shot if you'll take me."
"I'd get some work that would keep us both afloat," Pemberton continued.
"So would I. Why shouldn't I work? I ain't such a beastly little muff
as that comes to."
"The difficulty is that your parents wouldn't hear of it. They'd never
part with you; they worship the ground you tread on. Don't you see the
proof of it?" Pemberton developed. "They don't dislike me; they wish me
no harm; they're very amiable people; but they're perfectly ready to
expose me to any awkwardness in life for your sake."
The silence in which Morgan received his fond sophistry struck Pemberton
somehow as expressive. After a moment the child repeated: "You are a
hero!" Then he added: "They leave me with you altogether. You've all
the responsibility. They put me off on you from morning till night. Why
then should they object to my taking up with you completely? I'd help
you."
"They're not particularly keen about my being helped, and they delight in
thinking of you as _theirs_.
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