“Oh! what do you mean?” he asked, in trembling tones, as he came back to clutch the sleeve of the man’s shirt eagerly, and fasten a pair of anxious eyes on his face.
Smalling was visibly shaken. He tried to avoid the gaze of Ralph at first, and looked down at his feet in the manner of a man whose sins had suddenly arisen to confound him.
“You must know something about me, Mr. Smalling, or you wouldn’t have said what you did. I’ve only recently learned that I was adopted by the people I’ve always believed to be my own parents; and ever since that time I’ve been just wild to learn who I am. Do you know?” demanded Ralph.
The other moved uneasily, and his rather shifty eyes still refused to meet the penetrating gaze of the boy.
“Mebbe I do, and again mebbe I don’t. Come and see me again, boy, and perhaps I can help you find out what you want,” he muttered, with a shake of the head, as if not wholly satisfied to speak more plainly off-hand.
“But why not now? Oh! if you only knew how I lie awake nights wondering and wishing, I’m sure you’d tell me all you know, sir. It’s a terrible thing to be ignorant of who you are! No matter what my parents may have been, I’d rather know than keep on this way. Please tell me!” Ralph pleaded.
“Not just now. It comes on me too sudden like. I must have time to think it over and see just where I stand. There’s more than one thing to be considered. But I’ll tell you this, Ralph, after what you’ve done for my little girl to-day I’m mighty much inclined to break my word, and speak soon.”
“Then I suppose I’ll just have to wait, Mr. Smalling; but I do hope you’ll not be too long. When can I come to see you about it, sir?” Ralph went on, meaning to strike while the iron was hot.
“Come to-night, then. And I reckon you can expect to hear something that will do you good. But we must get off now. I’m anxious to get Mary to town, so a doctor can look after her hand; and as for you, the sooner you drop in on that baseball game the better, I reckon,” said the man, hurrying over to where the owner of the flour mill seemed to be working.
Then Ralph remembered that his time was not his own—that there would by now be a tremendous crowd assembled on the athletic grounds, watching the snappy work of the rival teams, and his absence must be causing the Columbia High players considerable anxiety, to say the least.