“No, Richard! You said the Bible said what was wrong; and that's blasphemy!”
“Didn't you say, mother, that the Bible said we ought to visit the sins of the fathers on the children?”
“God forbid!” cried the poor woman, driven almost to distraction; “I said nothing of the kind! That would be awful! What the Bible says is, that God does so.”
“Well, if God chooses, we must leave him to do as he chooses—not do likewise!”
“Surely, surely, Richard! If he does it, he knows what he's about, and we don't.”
“All right, mother! Then tell me where Arthur and Alice are gone. I want to go and see them.”
“I don't know. In fact, I took care not to know, that I mightn't be able to tell you.”
“But why?”
“Never mind why. I don't know where they are, and couldn't tell you if I would.”
Richard turned angrily away, and went to his room, weary and annoyed. In the morning his mother said to him—