Lavendar.
The very old man lowered his shaking right hand and looked at it; then
he said sullenly, "I only wanted his own good. You ought to see that--
a parson!"
"But you forget; I don't know what it was about."
Mr. Wright's face twitched. "Well," he said spasmodically, "I'll-tell
you. I--"
"Yes?"
"I--" his voice broke, then he coughed, then he tried to laugh.
"Simple enough; simple enough. I had occasion to send him to Mercer.
He was to come back that night." Mr. Wright stopped; poured some
whiskey into his glass, and forgetting to add any water, drank it at a
gulp, "He didn't come back until the next afternoon."
"Yes. Well?"
"In those days I was of--of somewhat hasty temper."
"So I have heard," said Dr, Lavendar,
Benjamin Wright glared. "When I was young, listening to gossip was not
thought becoming in the cloth. When he came, I learned that he had
stayed over in Mercer--without my consent, mark you--_to go to the
theatre!_"
"Well?" said Dr, Lavendar. "He was twenty-four. Why should he have
your consent?"
Mr., Wright waved this question aside. "When he came home, I spoke
with some severity,"
"This quarrel," said Dr. Lavendar, "is not built on such folly as
that."
Benjamin Wright shook his head, and made a careless gesture with his
trembling hand. "Not--entirely. I reproved him, as I say. And he was
impertinent. Impertinent, mind you, to his father! And I--in those
days my temper was somewhat quick--I--"
"Yes?"
But Mr.
Pages:
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131