If he
came home he would be sent back, that was all. "I realize you've got a
job ahead of you, Son," wrote the captain, "but you can do it, if you
will. Fact is, I guess you've got to. So sail in and show us what you're
made of."
Stephen's answer was a five page declaration of independence. He refused
to be bullied by any living man. He had made arrangements to come to New
York on the following Monday, and he was coming. As to being sent back,
he wished his uncle to understand that it was one thing to order and
another to enforce obedience. To which he received the following note:
"I can't stop you from coming, Steve, except by going to New Haven
and holding you by main strength. That I don't propose to do, for two
reasons: first, that it is too much trouble, and second that it ain't
necessary. You can come home once in a while to see your sister, but you
mustn't do it till I say the word. If you do, I shall take the carfare
out of your allowance, likewise board while you are here, and stop that
allowance for a month as a sort of fine for mutiny. So you better think
it over a spell. And, if I was you, I wouldn't write Caroline that I was
coming, or thinking of coming, till I had my mind made up. She believes
you are working hard at your lessons.
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