To an equal in age the old man would never have ventured this confidence, but to Hughie, to his own surprise, he found it easy to talk.
“A terrible thing,” he repeated, “and it will always be finding you out.”
Hughie listened to him with a fearful sinking of heart, thinking of himself and his sin.
“Yes,” repeated the old man, with awful solemnity, “it will come up with you at last.”
“But,” ventured Hughie, timidly, “won't God forgive? Won't he ever forget?”
The old man looked at him, leaning upon his hoe.
“Yes, he will forgive. But for those who have had great privileges, and who have sinned against light—I will not say.”
The fear deepened in Hughie's heart.
“Do you mean that God will not forgive a man who has had a good chance, an elder, or a minister, or—or—a minister's son, say, like me?”
There was something in Hughie's tone that startled the old man. He glanced at Hughie's face.