From the spot on which they had been standing the walk down to Granpere would take them more than an hour.

It might well be that they might make it an affair of two or three hours, if they went up to other timber-cuttings on their route; but George was sure that as soon as he began to tell his story his father would make his way straight for home.

He would be too much moved to think of his timber, and too angry to desire to remain a minute longer than he could help in company with his son.
Looking at all the circumstances as carefully as he could, George thought that he had better begin at once.

'As you feel Marie's going so much,' he said, 'I wonder that you are so anxious to send her away.' 'That's a poor argument, George, and one that I should not have expected from you.

Am I to keep her here all her life, doing no good for herself, simply because I like to have her here?
It is in the course of things that she should be married, and it is my duty to see that she marries well.' 'That is quite true, father.' 'Then why do you talk to me about sending her away?
I don't send her away.