"He hasn't done anything of the sort."
"What has he gone to France for, then?"
"That's his business, not yours."
"Yes, it is my business; I manage our suit, and you had better tell me all you know about it."
"I guess not! In the first place, I don't know much about it; and in the second, if I did, I wouldn't tell you."
"If André Maggimore commits perjury—"
"That will do, Fitz Wittleworth. I don't want to quarrel with you, and I don't mean to do so; but you can't talk like that to me without getting a broken head. So you can't talk to me at all. If you speak to me again, I won't answer you."
Leo turned abruptly from Fitz, bolted into a run, and did not slacken his pace till he reached the house. He was tempted to pitch into Fitz; his fists had involuntarily closed; and he felt that if he listened any longer, he should not be able to control his wrath. Leo stuck to his text, and when Fitz attempted to speak to him, he dodged him as though he had been an unclean beast. Of course Leo knew why his father and his sister had gone away; but he did not intend to give the Wittleworths the benefit of his knowledge. He had an occasional letter from Maggie, and about a week before the exhibition, he received one informing him that she and her father would sail for home in the next steamer, and expected to be present at the exhibition.
The great day of the school year arrived. The examination for medals had taken place, and Leo confidently expected this crowning distinction of his school life, though no one could know who were to be the happy recipients of the medals until their names were called on the great day. There was only one damper upon his enthusiasm as the eventful occasion dawned upon him. The steamer bearing André and Maggie had been expected the day before, but she had not arrived; and Leo felt that half his pleasure would be lost because they were not present to witness his triumph.
The exercises of the exhibition proceeded, and Leo spoke his piece, and carried through his part in the original dialogue to the entire satisfaction of all interested. The silver pitcher had been presented to the "beloved teacher," and the chairman of the district committee had risen to deliver the medal speech, when the crowd at the doors was opened by the gentlemanly policeman in attendance to allow the passage of some favored guests. Leo was in a flutter of excitement; for, shortly after the exercises began, the school-house being located near the bay, he had heard the two guns which announced the arrival of an English steamer, in those blissful days when Boston was favored by the Cunard line.