Mr. Smithers bit his lip till the blood came.
He had brought his son up to be undutiful and rebellious against his mother, and now he was reaping some of the crop, the seed of which he had sown.
Now he realized the full force of the saying that "it is sharper than a serpent's tooth to have a thankless child."
"Bring her back, I say," roared Smithers, who was nearly beside himself with vexation.
Still Harold did not move.
He sat on the front seat of the wagon with provoking coolness, and did not seem in the least alarmed at the display of parental wrath with which he was favored.
The fact was he had never been brought up to respect either father or mother, and he had arrived at an age when it is rather late to begin to inculcate lessons of filial obedience.
Hearing her father shout, Alice became alarmed lest he would follow and bring her back.
In his angry state of mind, and in that wild and desolate wilderness, he might even whip her.
So she commenced to run at the top of her speed, and her form grew dim and more indistinct every minute, as a slight haze was descending from the hills and enveloping the valley in mist.