His brain was busy, for presently he glanced at the floor.
"She'd object to that!" he said emphatically.

"A man could no more sit and work where he pleased than he could fly.

At least I know mother never would have it, and she was no nagger, either.

What a mother she was! If one only could stop the lonely feeling that will creep in, and the aching hunger born with the body, for a mate; if a fellow only could stop it with a woman like mother! How she revelled in sunshine and beauty! How she loved earth and air! How she went straight to the marrow of the finest line in the best book I could bring from the library! How clean and true she was and how unyielding! I can hear her now, holding me with her last breath to my promise.

If I could marry a girl like mother----great Caesar! You'd see me buying an automobile to make the run to the county clerk.