"
"Well, then,--oh, Eric! I am so, so sorry that you did that to Mr. Rose
to-night. All the fellows are praising you up, of course; but I could
have cried to see it, and I did. I wouldn't have minded if it had been
anybody but Rose."
"But why?"
"Because, Eric, he's been so good, so kind to both of us. You've often
told me about him, you know, at Fairholm, and he's done such, lots of
kind things to me. And only to-night, when he heard I was caught, he
sent for me to the library, and spoke so firmly, yet so gently, about
the wickedness of going to such low places, and about so young a boy as
I am learning to drink, and the ruin of it and--and"--His voice was
choked by sobs for a time,--"and then he knelt down and prayed for me,
so as I have never heard any one pray but mother;--and do you know,
Eric, it was strange, but I thought I _did_ hear our mother's voice
praying for me too, while he prayed, and"--He tried in vain to go on;
but Eric's conscience continued for him; "and just as he had ceased
doing this for one brother, the other brother, for whom he has often
done the same, treated him with coarseness, violence, and insolence.
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