He paused for a moment; and then a sudden idea flashed over him. “Samuel!” he exclaimed “Why don't you marry her?”
Samuel started in amazement. “What!” he gasped.
“It's the very thing!” cried Bertie. “I'll set you up in a little business, and you can have an easy time.”
“Master Albert!” panted the boy shocked to the depths of his soul.
“She's beautiful, Samuel—you know she is. And she's a fine girl, too—only a little wild. I believe you'd be just the man to hold her in.”
Bertie paused a moment, and then, seeing that the other was unconvinced, he added with a laugh, “Wait till you've known her a bit. Maybe you'll fall in love with her.”
But Samuel only shook his head. “Master Albert,” he said, in a low voice, “I'm afraid you've not understood the reason I've come to you.”
“How do you mean?”
“This—all this business, sir—it's shocked me more than I can tell you. I came here to serve you, sir. You don't know how I felt about it. I was ready to do anything—I was so grateful for a chance to be near you! You were rich and great, and everything about you was so beautiful—I thought you must be noble and good, to have deserved so much. And now, instead, I find you are a wicked man!”
The other sat up. “The dickens!” he exclaimed.