“He began to think that the independence for which he had longed was no such very desirable thing, after all; and he thought of the times when he so very foolishly ran off at bed-time, and put his good mother to so much trouble to compel him to take his own comfortable rest. What could he do? All his boasted freedom could not help him, and he was too happy when he discovered the residence of Sir Hare, of whom he very penitently begged supper and lodging. Sir Hare looked very curiously at him—”
“Did he tell him he would send him to jail, as a little vagrant?” asked Mary.
“Why, what put that in your head, child?” said her father.
“Oh, nothing; only it’s what Squire Jones—”
“Do be still interrupting!” shouted Frank. “We can’t take any sense of father’s story.”
“We, indeed,” said Mrs. Goodman, laughing till she almost cried, while Mr. Goodman continued:
“Sir Hare looked very earnestly and suspiciously at the young wanderer. If he had given him what he needed most, Bob would have been warmed with a good whipping; but as people are not very apt to volunteer in a disagreeable duty, Master Bob did not receive what would have done him more good than his supper. If he had been severely punished that night by Sir Hare, he might have humbly asked to be sent home to his parents.
“But as Master Bob did not receive the whipping he merited, his supper and comfortable lodging made him as bold and foolish as ever. Having found a lodging two nights with the charitable, he thought now that all he had to do was to enjoy himself all day, and trust to fortune that some good animal would give him a bed at night. So he wandered and capered about, as the whim took him, roving here, wandering there, and taking as little thought or care of himself as if he had his mother at hand, to run home to, as soon as he needed rest.
“Before noon, however, he was pretty well tired and rather hungry. The chance food that runaways pick up is not like the wholesome fare that children receive at home, and in Bob’s hunger, he stumbled upon some articles which made him sick. Young gentlemen are very apt to think that their mothers do not know much, and that their fathers are very little wiser; but if Bob’s mother had been with him he would not have poisoned himself with wild ivy.”
