"You shan't have him, then. You never shall. I want him, an' I'll keep him. You see!"
The door opened and shut with a bang. Whether purposely or not, it was impossible to say, but in his outward rush the half-wit brushed so rudely past Hallam that he knocked his crutch from his grasp, so that he would have fallen, had not the superintendent caught and steadied the lad to a seat.
"That's 'Bony' all over. As irresponsible as a child and ungovernable in his rage. Yet, never fear; he'll be back again, sometime."
"But—he has taken Balaam. What can I do now?"
Mr. Metcalf walked to the window and looked out. There was a dash of something black disappearing at the turn of the road.
"Humph! That's bad. He's taken the road to the mountains. When his 'wood fit' comes over him, summer or winter, he vanishes. Sometimes he is gone for months."
"And he's taken Balaam with him," repeated the other.
"Yes; he certainly has;" but when the superintendent looked toward Hallam he was startled by the hopeless expression of the lad's fine face.