It is pretty late; I think I will be turning in." "I had hoped," replied the Colonel, in an aggrieved voice, "that you might have been able to spare me a few minutes' conversation.

For some weeks I have been seeking an opportunity to talk to you; but somehow your arduous occupations never seem to leave you free for ordinary social intercourse." "Certainly," replied Morris, "though I don't quite know why you should say that.

I am always about the place if you want me." But in his heart he groaned, guessing what was coming.
"Yes; but you are ever working at your chemicals and machinery in the old chapel; or reading those eternal books; or wandering about rapt in contemplation of the heavens; so that, in short, I seldom like to trouble you with my mundane but necessary affairs." Morris made no answer; he was a very dutiful son and humble-spirited.
Those who pit their intelligences against the forces of Nature, and try to search out her secrets, become humble.

He could not altogether respect his father; the gulf between them was too wide and deep.

But even at his present age of three and thirty he considered it a duty to submit himself to him and his vagaries.