"Humph! And he stole the very articles that he was put here to guard! Sad! sad! but the fault was mine! He is but a child! a poor child, and was most likely hungry. I should not have left the fruit right under his keen young nose to tempt him! Boys, you did very wrong to beat him so! You, who are pampered so much, know little of the severe privations and great temptations of the poor. And we cannot expect children to resist their natural appetites," said the gentleman gently, as he stooped to examine the condition of the fallen boy.
Ishmael was half stunned, exhausted, and bleeding; but his confused senses had gathered the meaning of the false accusation made against him. And, through the blood bursting from his mouth, he gurgled forth the words:
"I didn't, sir! The Lord above, he knows I didn't!"
"He did! he did! Didn't he, Ben?" cried Master Alfred.
Ben was silent.
"And we beat him! Didn't we, Ben?" questioned the young villain, who well understood his weak younger brother.
"Yes," replied Ben, who was always willing to oblige his elder brother if he could do so without telling an out and out falsehood; "we did beat him."
The gentleman raised the battered boy to his feet, took a look at him and murmured to himself:
"Well! if this lad is a thief and a liar, there is no truth in phrenology or physiognomy either."
Then, speaking aloud, he said: