Mr. Force bowed.
The boy continued, now addressing the whole party:
“After father went out Norton said to me—and I remembered how surprised I was at his sudden kindness, though it did not arouse my suspicion of anything wrong—he said to me:
“‘You needn’t stop to-night, old man. I reckon I can clear up the counter and shut up the office.’
“So I went home to supper, and told father that Norton had let me off. You remember that, father?”
“Y-y-yes, now you remind me of it. But I don’t think I should remember it even now if the event were not marked by the fact that I never saw Norton from that night.”
“After supper,” continued the boy, “I went out to walk. The village street is always very gay on Saturday night. All the mill hands have got their week’s wages and are abroad, buying for Sunday, and the shops are gay. I stayed out just to see them until the custom began to drop off and the shutters to be put up. And then I started for home.”
“You needn’t think, sir, by that that my lad is the least bit wild. Obed is as steady as a lamp-post, but after being shut up in the office all day he must pull himself out a little by taking a walk, even though it is night. I tell him to,” Mr. Purdy explained.
“Quite right,” assented Mr. Force.
Obed continued: