"What of that?"
"You forget your place."
"My place was at Hester Paine"s side, since she had accepted my escort."
"It was very presumptuous in a factory boy like you offering your escort to a young lady like Miss Paine."
"I don"t see it," said Robert, independently; "and I don"t think it struck Hester in that light. We had a very agreeable walk."
Halbert was provoked and inflamed with jealousy, and the look with which he regarded our hero was by no means friendly.
"You mustn"t regard yourself as Miss Paine"s equal because she condescended to walk with you," he said. "You had better a.s.sociate with those of your own cla.s.s hereafter, and not push yourself in where your company is not agreeable."
"Keep your advice to yourself, Halbert Davis," said Robert, hotly, for he felt the insult conveyed in these words. "If I am a factory boy I don"t intend to submit to your impertinence; and I advise you to be careful what you say. As to Miss Hester Paine, I shall not ask your permission to walk with her, but shall do so whenever she chooses to accept my escort. Has she authorized you to speak for her?"
"No; but----"
"Then wait till she does."
Halbert was so incensed that, forgetting Robert"s superior strength, evident enough to any one who saw the two, one with his well-knit, vigorous figure, the other slender and small of frame, he raised his cane and struck our hero smartly upon the arm.
In a moment the cane was wrested from his grasp and applied to his own person with a sharp, stinging blow which broke the fragile stick in two.
Casting the pieces upon the ground at his feet, Robert said, coolly:
"Two can play at that game, Halbert Davis. When you want another lesson come to me."
He pa.s.sed his discomfited antagonist and hastened to the little cottage, where his mother was wondering what made him so much behind time.
CHAPTER III.
THE SPECIAL DEPOSIT.
Stung with mortification and more incensed against Robert than ever, Halbert hastened home. The house in which he lived was the largest and most pretentious in Millville--a large, square house, built in modern style, and with modern improvements, accessible from the street by a semi-circular driveway terminating in two gates, one at each end of the s.p.a.cious lawn that lay in front. The house had been built only three years, and was the show-place of the village.
Halbert entered the house, and throwing his hat down on a chair in the hall, entered the dining-room, his face still betraying his angry feelings.
"What"s the matter, Halbert?" asked his mother, looking up as he entered.
"Do you see this?" said Halbert, displaying the pieces of his cane.
"How did you break it?"
"I didn"t break it."
"How came it broken, then?"
"Robert Rushton broke it."
"The widow Rushton"s son?"
"Yes; he"s a low scoundrel," said Halbert bitterly.
"What made him break it?"
"He struck me with it hard enough to break it, and then threw the pieces on the ground. I wouldn"t mind it so much if he were not a low factory boy, unworthy of a gentleman"s attention."
"How dared he touch you?" asked Mrs. Davis, angrily.
"Oh, he"s impudent enough for anything. He walked home with Hester Paine last evening from the writing school. I suppose she didn"t know how to refuse him. I met him just now and told him he ought to know his place better than to offer his escort to a young lady like Hester. He got mad and struck me."
"It was very proper advice," said Mrs. Davis, who resembled her son in character and disposition, and usually sided with him in his quarrels.
"I should think Hester would have more sense than to encourage a boy in his position."
"I have no doubt she was bored by his company," said Halbert, who feared on the contrary that Hester was only too well pleased with his rival, and hated him accordingly; "only she was too good-natured to say so."
"The boy must be a young brute to turn upon you so violently."
"That"s just what he is."
"He ought to be punished for it."
"I"ll tell you how it can be done," said Halbert. "Just you speak to father about it, and get him dismissed from the factory."
"Then he is employed in the factory?"
"Yes. He and his mother are as poor as poverty, and that"s about all they have to live upon; yet he goes round with his head up as if he were a prince, and thinks himself good enough to walk home with Hester Paine."
"I never heard of anything so ridiculous."
"Then you"ll speak to father about it, won"t you?"
"Yes; I"ll speak to him to-night. He"s gone away for the day."
"That"ll pay me for my broken cane," said Halbert, adding, in a tone of satisfaction: "I shall be glad to see him walking round the streets in rags. Perhaps he"ll be a little more respectful then."
Meanwhile Robert decided not to mention to his mother his encounter with the young aristocrat. He knew that it would do no good, and would only make her feel troubled. He caught the malignant glance of Halbert on parting, and he knew him well enough to suspect that he would do what he could to have him turned out of the factory. This would certainly be a serious misfortune.
Probably the entire income upon which his mother and himself had to depend did not exceed eight dollars a week, and of this he himself earned six. They had not more than ten dollars laid by for contingencies, and if he were deprived of work, that would soon melt away. The factory furnished about the only avenue of employment open in Millville, and if he were discharged it would be hard to find any other remunerative labor.
At one o"clock Robert went back to the factory rather thoughtful. He thought it possible that he might hear something before evening of the dismission which probably awaited him, but the afternoon pa.s.sed and he heard nothing.
On leaving the factory, he chanced to see Halbert again on the sidewalk a little distance in front and advancing toward him. This time, however, the young aristocrat did not desire a meeting, for, with a dark scowl, he crossed the street in time to avoid it.