He added meekly that he hoped God would forgive him if he had
abused the trust placed in him, and, misled by a vanity of holiness, had
done his son great wrong, these many years.
'Give us your hand, Deacon,' cried the delighted pleader; 'you are a
good man, if you _are_ a Deacon, and that's more'n I'd have said a week
ago! You _have_ hurt that boy, and no mistake! You've either beaten the
spirit all out of him, or you have shut up a devil in him that'll break
out one o' these days, worse'n them that went into the pigs that we read
about! But 'tain't too late to mend, an' if a stitch in time _does_ save
nine, it's better to take the _nine_ stitches than to wait till they are
ninety times nine. You've got to be a thousand times kinder to the boy
than you would if you hadn't been so hard on him all his life.'
It was agreed that while the fever held its course nothing should be
said to poor Hannah, and so the two men parted--warm friends for the
first time in their lives.
And poor Hannah Lee went droopingly and patiently about her duties,
asking quietly from day to day as to the health of Jason, and telling no
soul how her heart seemed breaking within her, and how all the future
looked to her like a dreary waste.
Pages:
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151