“Are you hurt, Philip?” asked Harry, anxiously, as he bent over the
prostrate form of his antagonist.
As he opened his eyes and saw the face of Harry bending over him, all
came back to him, and his animosity revived.
“Get away from me!” he exclaimed furiously, as he staggered to his
feet.
“I certainly will, if you don’t need help,” said Harry, glad that
Philip had suffered no harm.
“Where is my horse?” demanded Philip.
“He has run away.”
“And it’s all your fault!” exclaimed Philip, angrily. “My buggy’s
broken, too, and all because you ran into me, you beggar!”
“I wouldn’t allow you to call me names if you hadn’t been punished
already for your unreasonable conduct,” said Harry, calmly. “Whatever
has happened you brought upon yourself.”
“Catch my horse!” ordered Philip, with the air of a master addressing a
servant.
“I’ve got something else to do,” said Harry, coolly, and he sprang into
the store wagon.
“Are you going to drive off and leave me here?” demanded Philip,
enraged.
“I must, for my time isn’t my own. It belongs to Mr. Mead. I would help
you otherwise—though you are to blame for what has happened.”
“You will suffer for this!” exclaimed the rich man’s son, gazing at his
broken buggy in helpless anger. “You’ll have to pay for all the damage
you have done!”
“You can go to law about it, if you want to,” said Harry, as he
gathered the reins into his hands, and he drove off. “I’ve a good
defense.”
To Philip’s disgust, Harry drove off, leaving him alone with his
disabled carriage. It was a good time to consider whether he had acted
wisely in demanding more than the law or custom allowed him, but Philip
was too angry for cool consideration.
He could not persuade himself that a boy like Harry, the son of a poor
widow, who had to work for his own living, had equal rights with
himself.
In the end he had to go home and bring back his father’s hired man to
take charge of the wreck. He learned that the frightened horse had
already found his way to the stable, terrifying the family with fears
that Philip had been seriously hurt on the way.
Philip gave a garbled account of the affair to his father and mother,
and excited the indignation of both, but especially his mother.
“I never heard of such an outrage—never!” exclaimed Mrs. Ross,
emphatically. “To think that boy should deliberately run into you and
endanger your life—my poor Philip!”
“That’s just what he did, mother,” said Philip, enjoying the
indignation he had aroused.
Colonel Ross was not quite so thoroughly convinced that his son was
right.
“Did you give Harry half the road?” he inquired.
“I gave him room enough to get by,” answered Philip, evasively.
“The law requires that you should give him half the road.”
“I hope, Mr. Ross, you don’t justify that horrid boy in running into
Philip?” said Mrs. Ross, sharply.
“No, my dear; I consider that he acted very badly. But, in order to
make him amenable to the law for the damage Philip’s team suffered, it
must appear that Philip gave him half the road.”
“Then the law ought to be altered,” said Mrs. Ross, with more anger
than reason. “I’ve no doubt that Philip gave him all the room he
needed.”
“When you were thrown out, did the heartless boy ride on and leave you
to your fate?” asked the mother.
“No; he got out and asked me if I was hurt,” Philip admitted,
reluctantly.
“Much he cared!” said Mrs. Ross, contemptuously.
“I suppose he was afraid he would be put in prison if I was killed,”
said Philip.
“Yes, that was his motive, undoubtedly. He didn’t offer to help you, I
suppose?”
“No; I asked him to, and he wouldn’t,” answered Philip, glad that he
could blacken poor Harry’s character.
“The unfeeling young villain!” ejaculated Mrs. Ross. “He ought to be
put in the State’s prison!”
“Do you think he can be?” asked Philip, eagerly.
“Of course he can, if your father exerts himself as he ought.”
“Nonsense, Lucinda!” said Colonel Ross, who was not a fool. “It was a
boyish misunderstanding.”
“You may call it that,” retorted Mrs. Ross, raising her voice. “I call
it a high-handed outrage. The boy ought to be arrested. Are you going
to do anything about it, Philander Ross?”
Mrs. Ross generally addressed her husband by his Christian name when
she was angry with him.
“I will tell you what I will do, Lucinda. I will see Mead, and tell him
that a boy who acts in that way is not fit to drive for him.”
“That’s right, father. Make him discharge Harry. Then he’ll have to go
to the poorhouse, or beg.”
“And a very suitable punishment for him,” said Mrs. Ross, approvingly.
“I don’t quite like to take the boy’s means of living away from him,”
said Colonel Ross, who was by no means as unfeeling as his wife and
son. “That would make his mother suffer, and she has been guilty of no
crime.”
“She will uphold him in his iniquity, you may rest assured, Mr. Ross,”
said his wife, nodding emphatically. “If she had brought up the boy to
be respectful to his superiors this would not have happened.”
“He won’t be able to pay damages if he loses his place,” said Colonel
Ross.
“I don’t care. I want him discharged from his situation.”
“Well, Lucinda,” said her husband, shrugging his shoulders, “you had
better undertake the management of the affair. I am very busy, and
can’t spare the necessary time.”
“I will!” said Mrs. Ross, with alacrity. “I will call on the boy’s
mother, and also on Mr. Mead.”
“Don’t be too extreme, Lucinda. Remember, it isn’t a hanging matter.”
“I am not so sure but it ought to be. My poor child might have broken
his neck. Oh, it makes my blood run cold when I think that he might be
lying lifeless before me at this moment.”
“Don’t say such things, mother,” said Philip, nervously, unpleasantly
affected by the picture his mother had drawn.
“I can’t help saying it, for it might have happened.”
“Where are you going to first, mother?” asked Philip.
“I will go first and call on Widow Gilbert. I consider her responsible,
for if she had brought up the boy better this would never have
happened.”
“May I go with you?”
“No; I would rather go alone.”
If Philip had only been scarred, or had a wound to show, his mother
would have taken him with her, to make her reproof more effective, but,
as he showed no marks of the encounter, she saw no advantage in his
presence.
“You just give it to her, mother,” said Philip, in a tone of
satisfaction.
“I shall know what to say, my son.”
“Just frighten her, and make her think we are going to have Harry
arrested.”
“I shall make her understand that the boy has done a very serious
thing, and has made himself amenable to the law.”
“That’s right, mother. Harry is too airy altogether. He seems to think
that I am no better than he is—a common working boy like him!”
Mrs. Ross sailed out of the room, and dressed herself with unusual
care, not out of respect for Mrs. Gilbert, but rather with the purpose
of impressing her with her grandeur.