The old gentleman chuckled and finished his bread and milk, while I
waited to hear more.
"I say I got tired of it at last, for I knew they flogged and locked up
the boy, and kept him on bread and water; but it did him no good; he
would run away. He used to come here, through the gate if it was open,
over the wall when it was shut, and he never said a word, only hung
about like a dog.
"I talked to him, coaxed him, and told him that if he would be a good
lad, and learn, I would have him to work some day, and he stared at me
just as if he were some dumb animal, and when I had done and sent him
off, what do you think happened, Grant?"
"He came back again, sir."
"Yes: came back again as soon as he could get away, and at last, being a
very foolish sort of old man, I let him stop, and he has been here ever
since."
"And never goes to school?"
"Never, Grant, I tried to send him, but I could only get him there by
blows, and I gave that up. I don't like beating boys."
I felt a curious shiver run through me as he said this, and I saw him
smile, but he made no allusion to me, and went on talking about Shock.
"Then I tried making a decent boy of him, giving him clothes, had a bed
put for him in the attic, and his meals provided for him here in the
kitchen."
"And wasn't he glad?" I said.
"Perhaps he was," said Old Brownsmith, quietly, "but he didn't show it,
for I couldn't get him to sleep in the bed, and he would not sit down to
his meals in the kitchen; so at last I grew tired, and took to paying
him wages, and made arrangements for one of the women who comes to work,
to find him a lodging, and he goes there to sleep sometimes."
I noticed that he said sometimes, in a peculiar manner, looking at me
the while. Then he went on: "I've tried several times since, Grant, my lad, but the young savage is
apparently irreclaimable. Perhaps when he gets older something may be
done."
"I hope so," I said. "It seems so dreadful to see a boy so--"
"So dirty and lost, as the north-country people call it, boy. Ah, well,
let him have his way for a bit, and we'll see by and by! You say he has
not annoyed you?"
"No, no," I said; "I don't think he likes me though."
"That does not matter," said the old gentleman, rising. "There, now,
I'm going to shave."