Bob sighed. "Poor mother, I was sorry to have to come home and tell you about it. I had some thought of running away instead of coming home that night, for I didn't know how I was to tell you what a fool I had been."
"That would have been mending matters with a vengeance," said Mrs. Ronan, with a scared look in her face that such a thought could enter her boy's head. "Why, what do you think I should have done then if you had gone?"
"I suppose I was thinking more about having to tell you and how I could get out of it," admitted Bob frankly.
"Yes, how you could shirk being made uncomfortable by what you had done. That is the reason most people run away from their duty, and, like the cowards they are, care nothing for the trouble and grief they cause their friends. I am glad you were brave enough to come and tell me all about it. We have both had to suffer some pain, but it may be a useful lesson to us both, and I feel sure now I shall be as proud as ever of my boy, in spite of what has happened."
"So you shall, mother," said Bob heartily, "I mean to stick to Sunday-school now I have begun again, and I mean to try my hardest at the writing and arithmetic, so that I may get a rise some day, and save you from working so hard at the washtub."
"Well, of course, I shall be glad for you to get on, my boy, but I want to see if you can't do something to induce your friends at the warehouse to give up all gambling games."
"Ah! That's easier said than done," said Bob, with something of a sigh as he rose from the tea table. "You see, if you ain't in the swim with the rest you're just nowhere, and that's where I am now. They've found out that I have gone back to school, and as I don't join in any of the games, they take care not to let me know what is going on among them. That was just how it was I had to join in with them before. A chap has to do like the rest for peace sake."
This was all Bob said, but his mother knew that her boy was having a hard fight, and she took care that his struggle was not made harder when he came home. The old shawl was put out of sight for a time, for the boy had no need of this to remind him of what had taken place, and since it had become a reproach to him, she resolved that he should not see it more than she could help.
