"Please tell me! Surely you didn't
know that!"
The other turned to him suddenly. "I don't think you quite realize the
circumstances," said he. "You come to me with this tale about Mr.
Hickman. Do you know that he is my brother-in-law?"
Samuel clutched the arms of his chair and stared aghast. "Your
brother-in-law!" he gasped.
"Yes," said the other. "He is my wife's only brother."
Samuel was dumb with dismay. And the doctor continued to pace the
floor. "You see," he said, "the position you put me in."
"Yes," said the boy. "I see. It's very terrible." But then he rushed
on in dreadful anxiety: "But, doctor, you didn't know it. Oh, I'm
sure--please tell me that you didn't know it!"
"I didn't know it!" exclaimed the doctor. "And what is more, I don't
know it now! I have heard these rumors, of course. Mr. Hickman is a
man of vast responsibilities, and he has many enemies. Am I to believe
every tale that I hear about him?"
"No," said Samuel, taken aback. "But this is something that everyone
knows."
"Everyone!" cried the other. "Who is everyone? Who told it to you?"
"I--I can't tell," stammered the boy.
"How does he know it?" continued the doctor. "And what sort of a man
is he? Is he a good man?" "No," admitted Samuel weakly. "I am afraid
he is not."
"Is he a man who loves and serves others? A man who never speaks
falsehood--whom you would believe in a matter that involved your
dearest friends? Would believe him if he told you that I was a briber
and a scoundrel?"
Samuel was obliged to admit that Charlie Swift was not a man like
that.
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