“Dr. Vince is at lunch,” said the maid who answered the bell.
“Please tell him I must see him at once,” said Samuel. “It's something very important.”
He went in and sat down in the library, and the doctor came, looking anxious. “What is it now?” he asked.
And Samuel turned to him a face of anguish. “Doctor,” he said, “I've just had a terrible experience.”
“What is it, Samuel?”
“I hardly know how to tell you,” said the boy. “I know a man—a very wicked man; and I went to him to try to convert him, and to bring him into the church. And he laughed at me, and at the church, too. He said there are wicked men in it—in St. Matthew's, Dr. Vince! He told me who they are, and what they are doing! And, doctor—I can't believe that you know about it—that you would let such things go on!”
The other was staring at him in alarm. “My dear boy,” he said, “there are many wicked men in the world, and I cannot know everything.”
“Ah, but this is terrible, doctor! You will have to find out about it—you cannot let such men stay in the church.”
The other rose and closed the door of his study. Then he drew his chair close to Samuel. “Now,” he said, “what is it?”
“It's Mr. Wygant,” said Samuel.
“Mr. Wygant!” cried the other in dismay.
“Yes, Dr. Vince.”
“What has he done?”
“Did you know that it was he who beat the child-labor bill—that he named the State senator on purpose to do it?”
The doctor was staring at him. “The child-labor bill!” he gasped. “Is THAT what you mean?”
“Yes, Dr. Vince,” said Samuel. “Surely you didn't know that!”
“Why, I know that Mr. Wygant is very much opposed to the bill. He has opposed it openly. He has a perfect right to do that, hasn't he?”'
“But to name the State senator to beat it, doctor!”
“Well, my boy, Mr. Wygant is very much interested in politics; and, of course, he would use his influence. Why not?”
“But, Dr. Vince—it was a wicked thing! Think of Sophie!”
“But, my boy—haven't we found Sophie a place in Mr. Wygant's own home?”
“Yes, doctor! But there are all the others! Think of the suffering and misery in that dreadful mill! And Mr. Wygant pays such low wages. And he is such a rich man—he might help the children if he would.”
“Really, Samuel—” began the doctor.
But the boy, seeing the frown of displeasure on his face, rushed on swiftly. “That's only the beginning! Listen to me! There's Mr. Hickman!”
“Mr. Hickman!”
“Mr. Henry Hickman, the lawyer. He has done even worse things—”
And suddenly the clergyman clenched his hands. “Really, Samuel!” he cried. “This is too much! You are exceeding all patience!”
“Doctor!” exclaimed the boy in anguish.
“It seems to me,” the doctor continued, “that you owe it to me to consider more carefully. You have been treated very kindly here—you have been favored in more ways than one.”
“But what has that to do with it?” cried the other wildly.
“It is necessary that you should remember your place. It is certainly not becoming for you, a mere boy, and filling a subordinate position, to come to me with gossip concerning the vestry of my church.”
“A subordinate position!” echoed Samuel dazed. “But what has my position to do with it?”
“It has a great deal to do with it, Samuel.”
The boy was staring at him. “You don't understand me!” he cried. “I am not doing this for myself! I am not setting myself up! I am thinking of the saving of the church!”
“What do you mean—saving the church?”
“Why, doctor—just see! I went to reform a man; and he sneered at me. He would not have anything to do with the church, because such wicked men as Mr. Hickman were in it. He said it was their money that saved them from exposure—he said—”
“What has Mr. Hickman done?” demanded the other quickly.
“He bribed the city council, sir! He bribed it to beat the water bill.”
Dr. Vince got up from his chair and began to pace the floor nervously. “Tell me, doctor!” cried Samuel. “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. “Dr. Vince,” he said quickly, “I admit that I am at fault. I have come to you too soon. I will find out about these things; and if they are true, I will prove them to you. If they are not, I will go away in shame, and never come to trouble you again as long as I live.”
Samuel said this very humbly; and yet there was a note of grim resolution in his voice—which the doctor did not fail to note. “But, Samuel!” he protested. “Why—why should you meddle in these things?”
“Meddle in them!” exclaimed the other. “Surely, if they are true, I have to. You don't mean that if they were proven, you would let such men remain in your church?”
“I don't think,” said the doctor gravely, “that I can say what I should do in case of anything so terrible.”
“No,” was Samuel's reply, “you are right. The first thing is to find out the truth.”
And so Samuel took his departure.
H............