"Why beg my pardon?" asked Mr. Hollingworth, coldly.
"Can't you guess what I'm coming to, sir?"
"Indeed, I cannot; and I may add that up to this point, although I sympathize with you in your trouble, and wish it were in my power to relieve you, I have not the remotest idea why you have inflicted your story upon me."
"Is that true?"
"As this is the last time you will have the opportunity of speaking to me, I forgive the impertinence. It is quite true."
"But you sympathize with me, you say?"
"I have said so. You are yourself aware that your unhappy story is one which many poor fathers can relate; but that does not render it less detestable. You seem to be mistaken in me, my friend. You present yourself here to me, and plainly, although not in the exact words, you say, 'I am a working-man, and therefore an honest man. You are a gentleman, and therefore a scoundrel. I credit myself with virtue; I credit you with vice. I am a worthy member of society; you are an infamous one.'" And now Mr. Hollingworth spoke with real dignity: "You are absolutely and fatally in error. The pernicious views you have in effect expressed are, I am well aware, shared by many of your class. They are erroneous views. Among the class I may be supposed to represent are a number of very worthy and honest persons who are really earnest in their desire and endeavors to set right what is wrong in society. I believe myself to be one of these persons; I believe my son to be another; and it is you and such as you who throw obstacles in our way. There is something too much of this parade of exceptional virtues on the part of such demagogues as yourself. Have I made myself clear to you?"
"Quite clear, sir," replied Mr. Parkinson, frankly and respectfully. He had listened with eager attention and interest to Mr. Hollingworth, from whose speech he seemed to derive satisfaction. "And I am free to admit that there is some truth in what you have said."
"Really!" exclaimed Mr. Hollingworth, letting his earnest mood slip from him. "Perhaps you are as free to admit that even among the humbler classes such wrongs are done as you have come here to descant upon."
"I admit it, sir; but each wrong must be treated on its own special ground. Had a poor man betrayed my child, I should have gone to him as I now come to you."