“What was it?” asked Royal.
“Why, the great difference in the man’s way of speaking, when he was asking Royal to help him put his cart together, and when he called the boy to come.”
“Yes,” said Royal; “he asked me if I would be kind enough to do it; but he said to Jerry, ‘Here, Jerry, come here quick.’”
“Yes,” rejoined Miss Anne; “now, what was the reason of the difference?”
“Why, Jerry was his boy, I suppose,” said Lucy.
“I don’t see that that makes any difference,” said Royal. “A man ought to speak as pleasantly to his boy as to any other boy.”
“He did speak pleasantly,” said Miss Anne, “only he spoke to Jerry in the form of command; but in speaking to you, he only made a request. The reason was, as Lucy says, that Jerry was his boy, and so bound to do whatever he should say; but you were not his boy, and therefore under no obligation to help him.”
“No,” said Royal, “I might do just as I pleased about it.”
“And yet,” said Miss Anne, “are you not under obligation to help any one whom you find in trouble or difficulty when you can do it so easily?”
“Why, yes,” said Royal.