Samuel had had nothing to eat since morning, but he did not feel hungry. He was faint from grief and despair. To encounter a man of the world like Mr. Wygant, cold and merciless and masterful—that was a terrible ordeal for him. The man seemed to him like some great fortress of evil; and what could he do, save to gaze at it in impotent rage?
He went home, and Sophie met him at the door. “I thought you wanted an early supper, Samuel,” said she.
“Why?” he asked dully.
“You had something to do at the church tonight!”
“Yes,” he recollected, “there's to be a vestry meeting, and I have to light up. But I'm tired of the church work.”
“Tired of the church work!” gasped the child. “Yes,” he said. And then to the amazed and terrified family, he told the story of his day's experiences.
Sophie listened, thrilling with excitement. “And you went to see Mr. Wygant!” she cried in awe. “Oh, Samuel, how brave of you!”
“He ordered me out of his house,” said the boy bitterly. “And Dr. Vince has gone back on me—I have no one at all to help.”
Sophie came to him and flung her arms about him. “You have us, Samuel!” she exclaimed. “We will stand by you—won't we mother?”
“Yes,” said Mrs. Stedman—“but what can poor people like us do?”
“And then you have Miss Gladys!” cried Sophie after a moment.
“Miss Gladys!” he echoed. “Will she take my part against her own father?”
“She told you that she loved you, Samuel,” said the child. “And she knows that you are in the right.”
“I will have to go and see her,” said Samuel after a little. “I promised that I would come and tell what happened.”
“And I will see her, too!” put in the other. “Oh, I'm sure she'll stand by you!”
The child's face was aglow with excitement; and Samuel looked at her, and for the first time it occurred to him that Sophie was really beautiful. Her face had filled out and her color had come back, since she had been getting one meal every day at the Wygant's. “Don't you think Miss Gladys will help, mother?” she asked.
“I don't know,” said Mrs. Stedman dubiously.
“It's very terrible—I can't see why such things have to be.”
“You think that Samuel did right, don't you?” cried the child.
“I—I suppose so,” she answered. “It's hard to say—it will make so much trouble. And if Miss Gladys were angry, then you might lose your place!”
“Oh, mother!” cried Sophie. And the two young people gazed at each other in sudden dismay. That was something they had never thought of.
“You mustn't do it, Sophie!” cried the boy. “You must leave it to me!”
“But why should you make all the sacrifices?” replied Sophie. “If it's right for you, isn't it right for me?”
“But, Sophie!” wailed Mrs. Stedman. “If you lost this place we should all starve!”
And again they stared at each other with terror in their eyes. “Sophie,” said Samuel, “I forbid you to have anything to do with it!”
But in his heart he knew that he might as well not have said this. And Mrs. Stedman knew it, too, and turned white with fear.
The boy ate a few hurried mouthfuls, and then went off to his work at the church. But he did not go with the old joy in his soul. Before this it had been the work of the Lord that he had been doing; but now he was only serving the Wygants—and the Hickmans—apparently one always served them, no matter where or how he worked in this world.
“You are late,” said old Mr. Jacobs, the sexton, when he arrived.
“Yes, sir,” said Samuel.
“Dr. Vince left word that he wanted to see you as soon as you came.”
The boy's heart gave a leap. Had the doctor by any chance repented? “Where is he?” he asked.
“In the vestry room,” said the other; and the boy went there.
The instant he entered, Dr. Vince sprang to his feet. “Samuel,” he cried vehemently, “this thing has got to stop!”
“What thing, Dr. Vince?”
“Your conduct is beyond endurance, boy—you are driving me to distraction!”
“What have I done now, sir?”
“My brother-in-law has just been here, making a terrible disturbance. You have been defaming him among the congregation of the church!”
“But, Dr. Vince!” cried Samuel, in amazement. “I have done nothing of the sort!”
“But you must have! Everyone is talking about it!”
“Doctor,” said the boy solemnly, “you are mistaken. I went to see Mr. Wygant, as I told you I would. Besides that, I have not spoken to a single soul about it, except just now to Sophie and Mrs. Stedman.—Oh, yes,” he added quickly—“and to Miss Gladys!”
“Ah!” exclaimed the other. “There you have it! Miss Gladys is a school friend of Mr. Hickman's daughter; and, of course, she went at once to tell her. And, of course, she will tell everyone else she knows—the whole congregation will be gossiping about it to-morrow!”
“I am very sorry, sir.”
“You see the trouble you cause me! And I must tell you plainly, Samuel, that this thing cannot go on another minute. Unless you are prepared to give up these absurd ideas of ............