can--whatever is necessary;--but I have my own family to provide
for. I can not rob my own child---"

"Nor do I expect it, Mr. Clifford," I replied hastily, and with some
indignation. "It is my wish, sir, to draw as little as possible
from your income and resources. I would not rob Julia Clifford of
a single dollar. Nay, sir, I trust before many years to be able
to refund you every copper which has been spent upon me from the
moment I entered your household."

He said hastily:--

"I wish nothing of that, Edward;--but the law is a study of years,
and is expensive and unpromising in every respect. Your clothes
already call for a considerable sum, and such a profession requires,
more than almost any other, that a student should be well dressed."

"I promise you, sir, that my dress shall be such as shall not
trespass upon your income. I shall be governed by as much economy--"

He interrupted me to say, that

"His duty required that his brother's son should be dressed as well
as his associates."

I replied, with tolerable composure:--

"I do not think, sir, that bricklaying will admit of very genteel
clothing, nor do I think that the vocation will suit me. I have
flattered myself, sir, that my talents--"