“That is the thing that makes it hurt so,” broke in the Elder. “He seems ungrateful for all I have done. I don’t care half as much for the praises of people inspired by a crowd as I do for one kind word from an individual whom I have helped.”
“Some one has influenced Uncle Josiah, if he has taken this attitude against you.”
“I have had the same fear. But even that would not excuse him for cursing me and threatening me with violence under my own roof.”
Elizabeth looked doubtful.
“It amounts to that, my dear. The things he said to me last night are too vulgar to repeat. 280 He swore vengeance against me. I am compelled to take a certain action against him, and naturally he is not able to see–––”
“Father!” cried the girl. “Then, it is you who are threatening to do something against him.”
“So it seems to him on the face of the action I must take. But at bottom it is an act of true friendship. He does not know the particulars, and I am in no position to explain.”
“What is it you are going to do?” she asked, drawing farther into the corner near the window.
“I must request that you ask me no questions. You are not familiar enough with the law to comprehend.”
Her gaze was fixed on him, and the Elder hitched sidewise in his chair, vainly trying to avoid her eyes. Failing in this, he attempted to meet her look squarely. His eyes shifted unsteadily, and he looked above her head. But the eyes of his child continued to bore into his guilty soul.