“You know I do not; I only say that, if you had treated him more generously, this would never have happened. You certainly might have afforded him a dollar a week. The poor boy used to feel mortified, because he never had a cent in his pocket.”
“I work hard for my money, Mrs. Drummond, and you needn’t expect me to waste it on an idle young rascal, who wants to live without work.”
“He was willing to work. He has told me more than once that if you would let him go to the city he would get a place in a store, and work cheerfully. He was tired of Stapleton.”
Mr. Drummond’s attention was excited.
“So he was very anxious to go to the city?” he said, inquiringly.
“Yes; he used often to speak to me of wanting to go there.”
“Then that’s where he is now,” said his father. “I might have known it. All the idle vagabonds who are too lazy and shiftless to earn an honest living in the country go to the city. My mind is made up. I shall go to New York to-morrow, Mrs. Drummond. Now, go and lay out a clean shirt for me. I shall start for the city by the early train.”
“If you find the poor boy, don’t be harsh with him, Jacob,” pleaded the mother.
“If I find him,” said Mr. Drummond, significantly, “I’ll give him a lesson that will cure him of thieving for a long time, I can tell you that!”
Mrs. Drummond turned away, with a sigh, to obey her husband’s request. She did not justify Joshua in his course, but she was a mother, and could not help making some excuse for her son. She felt that her husband had treated him too much like a young boy, not having sufficient consideration for the fact that in age he was now bordering upon manhood.