“But I have never injured you, Mr. Ford.”
“How could you—a baby like you?” said Ford, contemptuously.
“Then why did you take me from home, and make me so unhappy?”
“Because it was the only way in which I could strike a blow at your father and Grant Thornton. When your father dismissed me, without a recommendation, not caring whether I starved or not, he made me his enemy.”
“But he wouldn't if you hadn't—”
“Hadn't what?” demanded Ford, sternly.
“Taken Mrs. Estabrook's bonds.”
“Dare to say that again, and I will beat you,” said Willis Ford, brutally.
Herbert trembled, for he had a timid nature, and an exquisite susceptibility to pain.
“I didn't mean to offend you,” he said.