'Make your mind at
ease. I've got enough to pay for all that, and you must let me lend
you what you want.'
'Lend me money? You as I haven't spoke to for years?'
'The more fault mine. I ought to have come back again long since;
you wouldn't have refused an old friend that never meant an
unkindness to you.'
'No, it was me as was to blame,' said the other, with choking voice.
'She always told me so, and she always said what was right. But I
can't take it of you, Sidney; I can't! Lend it? An' where am I goin'
to get it from to pay you back? It won't be so long before I lie
like she does there. It's getting too much for me.'
The first tears he had shed rose at this generosity of the man he
had so little claim upon. His passionate grief and the spirit of
rebellion, which grew more frenzied as he grew older, were subdued
to a sobbing gratitude for the kindness which visited him in his
need. Nerveless, voiceless, he fell back again upon the chair and
let his head lie by that of the dead woman.
CHAPTER XXII
WATCHING FROM AMBUSH
Mr. Joseph Snowdon, though presenting a calm countenance to the
world and seeming to enjoy comparative prosperity, was in truth much
harassed by the difficulties of his position.
Pages:
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384