Dick the Bank Boy | Page 5

expected to do, Dick had proved a blessing to his
mother times without number.
He laughed and chatted as they sat at the table, and for the time being
the poor little woman really forgot that there was such a thing as
anxiety in this world.
Even the little encounter with Ferd was related with more or less humor;
and yet while Mrs. Morrison found herself compelled to smile at Dick's
quaint description of the way in which Ferd over-leaped himself, at the
same time a shade of worry crept over her face.
"Oh! I hope he will not tell his father about it and try to lay the blame
on your shoulders," she said, sighing.
"But why should he, mother? I had nothing to do with it, and never
even touched his old motor-cycle until I offered to help him get it out
of the ditch? Now you never told me that Mr. Graylock came around to
complain about me that other time, but I guessed it all the same. It was
just like him to threaten that he would do something awful if I ever put
a hand on his precious son again. Poor little fellow, he's only three

inches taller than me. You know I told you all about that trouble at the
time, mother?" he expostulated, indignantly.
"Yes, yes, so you did, my son, and I told Mr. Graylock that you could
not have been to blame--that after all it was only a boyish dispute, and
no serious damage had been done. He called you a bully and a terror,
and said he would make an example of you if it ever happened again.
Oh! he frightened me so."
"The old wretch, to come and talk that way to a lady, and she a widow,
too. What do you suppose father would have done to him if he had
been alive? Nearly every boy there will tell you I refused to fight up to
the time he struck me in the face and called me mean names. Then I
commenced. Perhaps I did hit him a little harder than I should, but I
was stirred up, and meant to teach him to leave me alone after that. I
guess I did it all right," and Dick, boy-like, smiled grimly as, in
imagination he could see the deplorable condition of his antagonist
when Ferd humbly admitted that he had had enough.
"But you see it happened that his father met him on the road while his
face was all covered with blood. It was only because he had been struck
on the nose; but it looked terrible to his father, and angered him. I hope
you will not have any trouble with that ill-natured boy again, son," she
said, earnestly.
"I never want to, mother, nor with any fellow; but there's a limit even to
the patience of Job. Father always taught me never to seek a quarrel;
but at the same time never to run away from one like a coward. I try to
follow his advice, mother."
"Yes, I am sure you do. And your father was a peaceable man; yet I can
remember once or twice when he took off his coat and thrashed a bully
until he howled for mercy. In fact, to tell the truth, that was the way I
first made his acquaintance as a boy, for he came to my assistance
when a big ruffian of an overgrown coward had stopped me on the road
and declared he was going to kiss me. Of course I screamed and your
father, then a lad learning the carpenter trade, jumped from the roof of a
kitchen near by and came to my rescue."

She laughed as the recollection came back to her mind, and once again
she could see the young man she had loved for many years standing up
as her knight; Dick too looked pleased at hearing how the father he
remembered so well had been ready to defend the right.
"I don't think Ferd will say anything about this last little adventure. You
see his father was opposed to his getting that motor-cycle, for he said it
would be just like Ferd to have an accident, and perhaps get his neck
broken. And to tell the truth, a little later on if nothing else turns up I
mean to try and get work in Mr. Graylock's store. It's a busy place, and
he might give me a chance. He's a deacon in the church, and I've often
heard him tell how all of us ought to heap coals of fire on our enemy's
head by doing him a good turn. I'm going to put him to the test, mother.
Perhaps he may turn out better than we think, who knows?"
"I