As Mrs. Willis uttered these words—the first really kind, affectionate words that had fallen upon his ear from the lips of a woman for long, long years—Guy’s heart softened, a great lump came up in his throat, and tears started to his eyes. Mrs. Willis was in a fair way to accomplish something until she spoke of his mother. Then Guy thought of his father’s wife, and the old feeling of desperation came back to him.
“I have no mother,” said he. “She is dead.”
“Then think of your father,” urged Mrs. Willis. “What would he say? Surely he loves you, and you ought to respect his feelings.”
“Well, if he loves me he has never shown it,” retorted Guy bitterly. “I don’t care what he thinks. He never respected my wishes or feelings while I was at home, and I don’t see why I should respect his now.”
“Oh, Guy, don’t talk so. There must be some one whose good opinion you value—some one you love. Who is it?”
Guy was silent. He could not recollect that during the time he had been absent from home he had thought of more than one of his relations with any degree of affection.
“I don’t know of anybody,” said he at length, “except my Aunt Lucy—and you.”
“Then for your aunt’s sake—for my sake, Guy, promise me that this shall never happen again. Promise me faithfully that, as long as you live, you will never touch a drop of anything intoxicating, and that you will never again go inside a billiard saloon or a card-room. Promise me.”
Again Guy was silent, not because he was unwilling to answer, but because he could not. His heart was too full. Mrs. Willis was satisfied that if the promise was once made, it would be religiously kept. She had read Guy as easily as she could read a printed page, and was well enough acquainted with him to know that when he once fully made up his mind to a thing, he was like Hosea Biglow’s meeting-house—too “sot” to be easily moved. So she was resolved to have the promise, and she took a woman’s way to exert it. She put her arms around Guy’s neck, and drew his face up so that she could look into it. When she saw that his eyes were filled with tears, she knew that she had conquered.
“Promise me,” she repeated.