“I shouldn't take a present any time,” returned Lemuel steadily.
“You are a foolish boy!” cried Miss Vane. “You need it, and I tell you to take it.”
He made no reply whatever.
“You are behaving very stubbornly—ungratefully,” said Miss Vane.
Lemuel lifted his head; his lip quivered a little. “I don't think you've got any right to say I'm ungrateful.”
“I don't mean ungrateful,” said Miss Vane. “I mean unkind—very silly, indeed. And I wish you to take this money. You are behaving resentfully—wickedly. I am much older than you, and I tell you that you are not behaving rightly. Why don't you do what I wish?”
“I don't want any money I haven't earned.”
“I don't mean the money. Why don't you tell me the meaning of what I heard? My niece said you had been impudent to her. Perhaps she didn't understand.”
She looked wistfully into the boy's face.
After a long time he said, “I don't know as I've got anything to say about it.”