He has a laboratory of his own downtown where,
doubtless, they thrive and multiply. But his special interest at
present is electricity. This has already brought him reputation and
money by virtue of an appliance in the storage battery line, the
details of which I do not precisely understand. Although Little Fred
shook his head gravely at the mention of the word "patent," I was
imprudent enough to follow my scientific son's lead to the tune of
several thousand dollars, the happy consequence of which seemed to be
that Josephine and I would be able to have our jaunt to Japan whenever
the spirit moved us. That was before I counted the cost of marrying a
daughter.
Thirdly, there was that daughter, a dear, sweet girl, who seemed to me
perfectly content in her enjoyment of the social pleasures in which she
was so well adapted to shine. I regarded her as still a mere child,
and though youths came and went, never for one moment did I suspect
that she was meditating the blow which she has since inflicted upon me,
until Josephine told me one evening, with a mysterious, agitated air,
that Mr. James Perkins wished to see me in the library. He saw me, and
all the consolation I derived from our interview was the impression
that he considered that he was acting generously in asking my consent
to the match, and that custom would have justified him in letting me
hear the news of my daughter's engagement elsewhere and in seeing me
further, as the phrase is, before he saw me at all.
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