but it troubled my mother

  "Good-evening, Tom," said Luke, politely.   "Evenin'!" responded Tom, briefly. "Where you goin'?"   "To see Jim Norman. He's sick."   "What's the matter of him?"   "He's got a bad cold and is confined to the house?"   Tom shrugged his shoulders.   "I don't go much on Jim Norman," he said, "He ought to be a girl. He never smoked a cigarette in his life."   "Didn't he? All the better for him. I don't smoke myself."   "You have smoked."   "Yes, I used to, but it troubled my mother, and I promised her I wouldn't do it again."   "So you broke off?"   "Yes."   "I wouldn't be tied to a woman's apron strings."   "Wouldn't you try to oblige your mother?"   "No, I wouldn't. What does a woman know about boys? If I was a gal it would be different."