George Leatrim | Page 8

it in my old age."
'"It may be possible, Ralph, that you were mistaken," said Dr. Leatrim, after a long and painful silence, in which he had been summing up the evidence on both sides. "The boy's account of himself is very clear. George, I will give you one trial more. If I find that crown piece in the box, I will believe that Ralph is in error, that some villain unknown to us has been the robber."
'"Most joyfully, dear father!" exclaimed George, springing from his knees beside the Rector, and bringing him the box. "God will attest my innocence, and prove to you that I have spoken the truth."
'A gleam of hope shot through the thick gloom that had gathered round Dr. Leatrim. With a steady hand he unlocked the box. The crown piece was not there!
'"Liar!" he cried, in a tone of mingled contempt and horror. "What have you to say for yourself now?"
'George uttered a sharp and bitter cry of disappointment. He pressed his hands tightly over his breast, as he murmured in a hollow, broken voice, "Nothing."
'"You plead guilty?"
'"I should prove myself a liar, sir, if I did."
'"Liar and thief! Base hypocrite! Kneel down and ask pardon of that worthy man for the injurious language you have used towards him."
'"Never!" George Leatrim fixed his brow like iron. "I will die first."
'"You deserve death, sir," cried his father, rising in great anger; "and I would inflict upon you the utmost penalty of the law were it not for your poor mother."
'"Oh, my mother!" said George, in a low, heart-broken voice; "this disgrace will kill her."
'Dr. Leatrim was too much overcome by passion to hear that despairing moan, his pride too deeply wounded to pity and forgive; and he continued, with the utmost severity of look and manner: "Ay, wretched boy, you should have thought of that before; but not even to spare her feelings can I neglect my duty. I cannot demean myself by touching a thing so vile. Ralph, whom you have calumniated, shall inflict upon you a punishment suited to the baseness of your crime. Wilson, you will find a light cane in that corner; bring it here."
'"You do not mean to chastise me like a dog, father?"
'"Never address me by that title again, sir, until deep repentance and a long-continued course of well-doing restore you once more to my love and favour--though never, never can you again occupy the place you once held in my heart. You have acted like a felon, and shall receive a felon's reward."
'"Beware what you do, sir," cried George, frowning in his turn. "Get your menial to punish me in this degrading manner, and you will repent it to the last day of your life."
'"Oh, monstrous depravity! Do you dare to threaten me? Take off your jacket, sir.--Ralph, give him twenty lashes, and don't spare the whip."
'The man drew back. "I cannot strike my master's son."
'"Do as I bid you."
'The boy stood firm as a rock, his lips compressed, his brow rigid, and his face livid in its ghastly pallor. Turning from his stern parent to the old man, he said, with an air of calm indifference:
'"I am ready; perform your task. I am not the first victim who has suffered wrongfully. My Saviour endured a harder scourge; I will learn patience from His cross."
'"What barefaced wickedness!" groaned the Doctor. "God grant him repentance, and save his miserable soul."
'"Amen," said Ralph, as he turned to his abhorrent task with an energy equal to the guilt of the criminal.
'George bore the severe castigation without a murmur. When it was over, Doctor Leatrim told him to go to his own room, and pray to God to soften his hard and impenitent heart.
'As the boy passed his father on his way out, he gave him a look full of love and compassion, and said, in a firm voice:
'"Sir, I pity and forgive you. If you have erred, it was under the full conviction that you were doing your duty."
'He closed the door softly, and staggered up to his own chamber.
'What was there in that look that went so home to the heart of the stern father--in those loving, broken words of the poor abused boy? If they did not stagger the conviction of his guilt, they made him feel most unhappy. Had he acted well, or wisely, or like a Christian? Was the punishment that he had inflicted--so harsh and degrading to a sensitive mind--likely to produce the desired effect? He could not answer the question in a manner at all satisfactory to his mind, or still the sharp upbraidings of conscience; and flinging himself upon his knees, he buried his face in his hands, and offered up to God an agony of repentant tears.
CHAPTER III.
'George Leatrim's first thought was to go to