No doubt he would have made away with money
had he possessed it; but as everybody knew that he did not possess
a long purse, and that the Squire would not be likely to pay his
son's debts of honour, he was saved from the temptation of plunging
deeply into debt. People did not care to trust him too far.
So, as he climbed the shallow stairs three at once, he told himself
that his father had no need to speak severely to him. He had only
been as other young men, and had not got into serious debt or
trouble. Tom had almost persuaded himself, in fact, that he had
been on the whole a very estimable sort of youth, and he entered
the sick room with something of a swaggering air, as much as to say
that he had no cause for shame.
But at the sight which greeted his eyes, as they met those of the
sick man, a sobering change came over him. He had seen death
sometimes, and the sight of it had always painfully affected him.
He hated to be brought up short, as it were, and forced to see the
serious, the solemn, the awe inspiring in life. He wanted to live
in the present; he did not want to be forced to face the inevitable
future.
"Tom," said his father's voice, in weak but distinct accents, "you
have come, and it is well.
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