“I’ve thought of that, Phoebe. Here in Riverdale Toby couldn’t hold his head up. But it’s a big world and there are places where his past would never be discovered. I’ll look after the lad, if I’m alive when he gets free, and try to help him begin a new life; but, anyhow, he must face this ordeal and make the best of it.”
Phoebe went home discouraged and rebellious. She kept telling herself that Sam Parsons was right, all the time resenting the fact that the common, uneducated man looked at this unfortunate affair in a broader, more philanthropic light than she could, and was resolved to do his duty as his simple mind conceived it. The girl’s heart, stifle it as she would, cried out against the injustice of the plan of sacrifice. Sam knew all the parties concerned, and could therefore judge more impartially than she; but even that argument did not content her.
CHAPTER XV
HOW THE BAND PLAYED
Ed Collins, the leader of the Riverdale Cornet Band, was much amused when the four children—two Darings and two Randolphs—came to him in breathless excitement and wanted to hire his band to parade with the Marching Club on Saturday afternoon. Ed kept a tailor shop and was a good-natured, easy-going fellow who was fond of children and liked to humor them, but this proposition seemed so absurd that he answered with a smile:
“Bands cost money. The boys won’t tramp the streets for nothing, you know.”
“We’ll pay,” said Don, offended that he was not taken seriously. “I said we wanted to hire your band. Their business is to play for money, isn’t it?”
“Sometimes,” said Ed; “and sometimes they play for fun.”
“This’ll be fun,” suggested Becky.
“Not for the band, I guess. You’d want us to play every minute,” said the tailor.