“There are laws, my friend, laws—iniquitous, if you like; but, for what they are, they don’t recognize the purse on the highway as the property of him that picks it up.”
“And how are you going to set these laws in motion?”
“We’ll insert the end of the wedge first—say in some public print, now. How would this look? We have it on good authority that Mr. Trender, our esteemed fellow-townsman, is the lucky discoverer of——”
“Be silent, you!” My father spoke fiercely; then added in a low tone: “D’ye wish all the world to know?”
“Not by any means,” said the other, quietly, “and they shan’t if you fall in with my mood.”
“If I only once had your head in the mill wheel,” groaned my father, with a curse. “Now, harken! I don’t put much value on your threat; but this I’ll allow that I court no interference with my manner of life. Take the concession for what it is worth. Come to me by and by and you shall have another.”
“A couple,” said the doctor.
“Very well—no more, though I rot for it—and take my blessing with them.”
“When shall I come?” said the doctor, ignoring the very equivocal benediction.
“Come to-night—no, to-morrow,” said my father, and turning on his heel strode heavily off toward the town.