"But I would rather you did." Mr. Ashley spoke quietly, as usual; but there lay command in the quietest tone of Mr. Ashley's.
Implicit obedience had been enjoined upon the Halliburtons from their earliest childhood. In that manufactory Mr. Ashley was William's master, and he believed he had no resource but to comply with his desire. William was of a remarkably ingenuous nature; and if he had to impart a thing, he did not do it by halves, although it might tell against himself.
"When I found that shilling this morning, sir, the thought came over me to wish it was mine—to wish that I might take it without doing ill. The thought did not come over me to take it," he added, raising his truthful eyes to Mr. Ashley's, "only to wish that it was not wrong to do so. When you looked at me so earnestly, sir, I fancied you could see what my thoughts had been. And they were not honourable thoughts."
"Did you ever take money that was not yours?" asked Mr. Ashley, after a pause.
William looked surprised. "No, sir, never."
Mr. Ashley paused again. "I have known children help themselves to halfpence and pence, and think it little crime."
The boy shook his head. "We have been taught better than that, sir. And, besides the crime, money taken in that way would bring us no good, only trouble. It could not prosper."
"Tell me why you think that."
"My mother has always taught us that a bad action can never prosper in the end."
"I suppose you coveted the shilling for marbles; or for sweetmeats?"