“What did he say to you?”
“Well, if you please, I’d rather not tell.”
“You needn’t. Now, Dannie, didn’t you know that you were doing wrong when you removed those stakes, no matter what your motive might have been?”
“I didn’t stop to think much about it then. I just went ahead and did it. But I know now that it was wrong. I’ve known it ever since it was done. I haven’t any excuse to make.”
“Do you want it understood that you alone are to blame, and that you alone are responsible for this deed?”
“Yes, sir. That’s it exactly.”
“Well, let us see about that. Did you, on the evening of the night in which you removed the stakes, hear your grandfather declare that no person could do a better deed than to pull them all up and throw them into the brook?”
“Why, yes, sir—yes; I heard him say somethin’ like that.”
“Very well. Did or did not that declaration have anything to do with your subsequent conduct?”