“There—there,” said Mrs. Pepper soothingly, trying to pat the nervous hands. “Don’t, Matilda; your mother will hear you. Can I see your father?” She stepped in and shut the door.
“He’s in there.” Matilda twitched out one hand from beneath the apron, and pointed a shaking finger to the little room that old Mr. Peters called his office. Mrs. Pepper knocked at the door.
“You better go right in ef you want to see him,” said Matilda in a loud whisper, “for he’ll sneak out th’ back door, ef he knows it’s you.” So Mrs. Pepper opened the door, and none too soon. Old Man Peters was crowding his long legs out of the big chair where he sat behind his desk, his eyes on the door leading out to the back yard.
“Oh, come in, Mis Pepper,” he mumbled, his long face getting redder and redder. “Take a chair an’ set.”
“I do not wish to sit down, Mr. Peters,” said Mrs. Pepper. “What I have to say will take but a few moments. I have come to see you about my boy.”
“Yes—yes—” grunted the old man in a terrible alarm. “Well, p’raps ’twas a mistake,” he twitched the papers on his desk with nervous fingers, then finally ran them through his shock of grizzled hair. “I didn’t mean to hurt th’ boy none. But mebbe ’twas a mistake. You better set, Mis Pepper.” He pointed to a broken-backed chair, the only one provided for his farm-hands when they went to wrangle over their hard-earned wages.
“It was more than a mistake, Mr. Peters,” said Mrs. Pepper in a clear voice, and ignoring the invitation.
“Well—mebbe—mebbe,” said the old man, wriggling around in his big chair. “See here now,” he suddenly stopped and looked in a tremor into her black eyes, “I’ll give you some money, an’ that’ll fix it up. How much do ye want?” he asked in an anguished tone.
“Money could never fix up a thing like this,” said Mrs. Pepper. Her tone was quiet, but the black eyes blazed. Old Man Peters’s hand fell in relief from the handle of his money drawer, but he slunk down in his chair.
“The only reparation you can make, Mr. Peters,” Mrs. Pepper went on, “is to be very sure that you will never lay a hand again on a Badgertown child; not only upon my child, but upon any child. You understand that?”