And the boy, blazing with fury, pointed his finger straight into his
face. "You, Henry Hickman!" he cried. "You are the worst of them all!
You, the great lawyer--the eminent statesman! I have been among the
lowest--I have been with saloon keepers and criminals--with publicans
and harlots and thieves--but never yet have I met a man as merciless
and as hard as you! You a Christian--you might be the Roman soldier
who spat in Jesus' face!"
And with that last thunderbolt Samuel turned and went out, slamming
the door with a terrific bang in the great lawyer's face.
For at least a couple of hours Samuel paced the streets of
Lockmanville, to let his rage and grief subside. And then he went
home, and to his astonishment found that Sophie Stedman had been
waiting up for him all this while.
She listened breathlessly to the story of his evening's adventures.
Then she said, "I have been trying to do something, too."
"What have you done?" he asked.
"I went to see little Ethel," she replied.
"Ethel Vince!" he gasped.
"Yes," said she. "She is your friend, you know; and I went to ask her
not to let her father turn you off."
"And what came of it?"
"She cried," said Sophie. "She was terribly unhappy. She said that she
knew that you were a good boy; and that she would never rest until her
father had taken you back."
"You don't mean it!" cried Samuel in amazement.
Pages:
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214