"They shall be punished----"
"My dear sir! You don't suppose I came for any such purpose as that! It broke the ice between us. I got my things and made two friends. I want to improve the acquaintance--with your sanction."
"To what end?"
"To the end of making men of them, Sir Denzil. There are great possibilities there. You must not neglect them, or the responsibility will be yours."
"That, I presume, is my affair."
"No--excuse me! In the natural course of things those boys will be here when you and I are gone. As their feet are set now, so will they walk then. If you leave them untrained the responsibility for their deeds will be yours. It is no light matter."
Sir Denzil extracted a pinch very deliberately and closed the box with a tap on the First Gentleman's snub nose.
"And suppose I prefer to let them run wild for the present?"
"Then you are not doing your duty by them, and sooner or later it will recoil upon your own head--or house."
"Yes; but, as you say, I shall probably not be here, and so I shall not suffer."