CHAPTER XXVIII.—“THY WILL BE DONE”
A FEW days after the country had been devastated by the hot winds, Hugh met Major Hampton on the street.
“Come on,” said the major, “I am going over to the Patriot office, and I want to have a talk with you.”
“All right,” replied Hugh; “financially, I am ruined; and I now have more time on my hands than anything else.”
On reaching the major’s den at the Patriot office, he turned to Hugh and said, “I can distinctly see, Mr. Stanton, that there’s something on your mind. Perhaps you’d like to ask my advice. If so, you need not be backward.”
Hugh laughed good-naturedly, as he puffed a ring of cigar smoke toward the ceiling. “Well,” he replied, “bankruptcy stares us in the face. Our bank, in all probability, will have to close its doors. Is not that quite enough to have on one’s mind?”
“Quite enough,” replied the major, “but there is something else that is worrying you. Come, what is it?”
“I almost believe, Major, that you are a mind-reader,” replied Hugh.
“Oh, I am a student,” replied the major, “and it would be strange, indeed, if I had not made some progress in all my years of study.”
“Well, I will ask you a question,” said Hugh. “If something you coveted very much were within your grasp, and you should awaken to find that it really belonged to another—some one whom you believed unworthy of the prize—what would you do?”