“Is he a man who loves and serves others? A man who never speaks falsehood—whom you would believe in a matter that involved your dearest friends? Would believe him if he told you that I was a briber and a scoundrel?”
Samuel was obliged to admit that Charlie Swift was not a man like that. “Dr. Vince,” he said quickly, “I admit that I am at fault. I have come to you too soon. I will find out about these things; and if they are true, I will prove them to you. If they are not, I will go away in shame, and never come to trouble you again as long as I live.”
Samuel said this very humbly; and yet there was a note of grim resolution in his voice—which the doctor did not fail to note. “But, Samuel!” he protested. “Why—why should you meddle in these things?”
“Meddle in them!” exclaimed the other. “Surely, if they are true, I have to. You don't mean that if they were proven, you would let such men remain in your church?”
“I don't think,” said the doctor gravely, “that I can say what I should do in case of anything so terrible.”
“No,” was Samuel's reply, “you are right. The first thing is to find out the truth.”
And so Samuel took his departure.
He went straight to his friend Finnegan.
“Hello!” exclaimed Finnegan. Then, “What about that job of mine?” he asked with a broad grin.
“Dr. Vince says he will look out for you,” was the boy's reply. “But I'm not ready to talk about that yet. There's something else come up.”