Meanwhile a hot argument was proceeding between Mrs. Errington and Horace. For once it seemed that the boy was inclined to defy his mother.
"Let me give him something—only a few coppers," he said.
"No; beggars ought not to be encouraged."
"That chap isn't a regular beggar. I'll wager anything it's true. He is starving."
"Nonsense! They always say so."
"Mater—stop! I must——"
Horace paused resolutely and looked round. In the distance the man could still be seen standing where they had left him, his head drooped, his narrow shoulders hunched slightly forward.
"Let me run back," the boy went on; "I won't be a minute."
But Mrs. Errington's curious parsimony was roused now to full activity.
"I will not allow it," she said; "the man is probably a thief and a drunkard. Hyde Park swarms with bad characters."