"Yes—I think he would have understood; he's just—but I felt I couldn't. I would not repeat the boy's words—I should have got mad again."
"Poor Bob, I am sorry, dear! Now what can you do? You have a note there, you say. Your father comes home early to-day; let's go at once and tell him—tell him everything and get it over; perhaps he will understand."
"No—he won't, because I can't tell him; if I could, he would, because my father is a gentleman."
Something that sounded like pride echoed in the boy's voice—pride of the right sort—pride that spoke of a secret admiration for the man who yet had never troubled to fathom the depths of his boy's heart.
Margaret felt a hope for better things spring up within her as she noted it. Oh, if only she could bring these two together in a great bond of friendship! The wife and mother seemed a little more aloof, her half Spanish nationality a little bridge always to be crossed, where national character and custom might be at variance. But the boy and the man were essentially English; the strong control evident in both, with a reserve which hid, as she felt sure, hearts of gold.
"Come, Bob dear, let's go—it is nearly lunch-time."
"Miss Woodford, I would rather—rather run away than face my father with this." The boy spoke a little desperately, and the fingers which held the Headmaster's note trembled as he thrust it back into his pocket.
"Bob, I know you are no coward," said Margaret gently; "to run from a difficult post is coward's work. You won't do it, I know. You are trying to be a servant of Christ; isn't that so?"
"I was," he muttered, "but it seems no use."
"Think a moment of what the Captain of your salvation did for you—when the suffering of Calvary had to be endured, and the agony of the cross lay before Him. It says, speaking of Him, He set His face like a flint. He could have escaped that last journey to Jerusalem, have gone back to the glory of His Heavenly Father's home, but for your sake He chose to suffer and to die. Bob, His message to you at this moment seems to me to be some words I read in His Book this morning: 'Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.' The Holy Spirit, Who filled the heart and life of the Saviour, can come upon you, and make you brave and strong. Ask Him now."