I did not like this. I was a blunt straight-forward boy; and I thought that my aunt was afraid to back me in what I knew to be right. I told her so.
"True, Geoffrey. But in this house it is useless to oppose force to force. Your only safe course is non-resistance."
"That plan I never can adopt. It is truckling to evil, aunt. No ultimate good can spring from it."
"But great trouble and pain may be avoided, Geoffrey."
"Aunt, I will not submit to Mr. Jones"s mean tyranny; I feel myself aggrieved; I must speak out and have it off my mind. I will go this instant to Mr. Moncton and submit the case to him."
"Incur his displeasure--no trifle at any time, Geoffrey--and have Theophilus and Mr. Jones laughing at you. They can tell your uncle what story they please: and which is he most likely to believe, your statement or theirs?"
"He is a clever man. Let them say what they like, it is not so easy to deceive him; he will judge for himself. He would know that I was in the right, even if he did not choose to say so; and that would be some satisfaction, although he might take their part."
My aunt was surprised at my boldness; she looked me long and earnestly in the face.
"Geoffrey, your argument is the best. Honesty is the right policy, after all. I wish I had moral courage to act up to it at all times.
But, my dear boy, when you are the slave of a violent and deceitful man, your only chance for a quiet life is to fight him with his own weapons."
"Wrong again, aunt," I cried vehemently. "That would make me as had as him. No, no, that plan would not do for me. I should betray myself every minute, and become contemptible in his eyes and my own. It strikes me, although I am but a boy of twelve, and know little of the world, that the only real chance you have with such men is, to show them that you are not afraid of them. They are all cowards, aunt; they will yield to courage which they feel to be superior to their own. So much I have learnt from the experience of the last four years."
Aunt made no reply; she smiled sadly and kindly upon me, and her tacit approval sent me directly to my uncle. He was in his private office. I knocked gently at the door.
"Come in."
I did so; and there I stood, not a little confused and perplexed before him, with flushed cheeks and a fast-throbbing heart. It was the first complaint I had ever made to him in my life--the first time I had ever dared to enter his _sanctum sanctorum_; and I remained tongue-tied upon the threshold, without knowing how to begin. I thought he would have looked me down. I felt the blood receding from my face beneath his cold gaze, as he said--
"Geoffrey, what do you want here?"
"I came, sir," I at last faltered out, "to make a complaint against Mr.
Jones."
"I never listen to complaints brought by a pupil against his teacher,"
he cried, in a voice which made me recoil over the door-step. "Be gone, sir! If you come into my presence again on such an errand, I will spurn you from the room."
This speech, meant to intimidate me, restored my courage. I felt the hot blood rush to my face in a fiery flood.
"Hear me, sir. Did not you place me under his care in order that I might learn?"
"And you refuse to do so?"
"No, sir: the reverse is the case: he refuses to teach me, and deprives me of my books, so that I cannot teach myself."
"A very _probable_ tale," sneered Mr. Moncton; then rising from the table at which he was seated, he cried out hastily, "Is Mr. Jones in the study?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then, my new client, come along with me. I will soon learn the truth of your case."
He clutched me by the arm, which he grasped so tightly that I could scarcely resist a cry of pain, and hurried me out. In the study we found Theophilus and Mr. Jones: the one lounging on two chairs, the other smoking a cigar and reading a novel. Mr. Moncton stood for a moment in the door-way, regarding the pair with his peculiar glance.
"Gentlemen, you seem _pleasantly_ and _profitably_ employed!"
"Our morning tasks are concluded," said Theophilus, returning the stare of scrutiny with a steady lie. ""Too much work would make Jack a dull boy.""
His father smiled grimly. How well he understood the character of his son.
"Here is a lad, Mr. Jones, who complains that you not only refuse to teach him, but deprive him of his books."
"He tells the truth, sir," returned that worthy, casting upon me a spiteful, sidelong glance, which seemed to say more eloquently than words, "You shall see, master Geoffrey, what you"ll get by tale-bearing.
I"ll match you yet." "I have withheld his books, and refused my instructions for the past week, as a punishment for his insolent and disrespectful conduct to your son and me; to say nothing of his impertinent speeches regarding _you_, sir, who are his guardian and benefactor."
"Do you hear that--sir!" said my uncle, giving me a violent blow on my cheek, and flinging me from him. "When next you come to me with such tales, you shall not leave your bed for a week."
I sprang from the floor, where his blow had sent me; and stood erect before him. It was a pigmy confronting a giant; but my blood was boiling. I had lost all control over myself. "It"s a lie!" I cried, shaking my fist at Mr. Jones. "A monstrous falsehood! He knows it is.
Theophilus knows it is. I have been falsely accused and unjustly punished; I will remember that blow to my dying day. I will never forget nor forgive it."
"And who cares, my hero, for your impotent rage?" My uncle seized me by my thick curling hair, and turned round my face, hot with pa.s.sion and streaming with tears of rage, to the gaze of my sneering enemies. "I will make you know, that you are in my house and in my power--and you _shall_ submit to my authority, and the authority of those I choose to place over you."
I struggled desperately in his herculean grasp in order to free myself.
He laughed at my impotent rage and then threw me on the floor--and this time, I was quiet enough.
When I recovered my senses, I found myself lying upon the bed in the garret, allotted to my use. My aunt was sitting beside me, bathing my temples with vinegar and water. "Oh, aunt," I sighed, closing my eyes, "I wish I were dead!"
"Hush! Geoffrey. You brought this on yourself. I told you how it would be."
"It was so unjust," I replied with bitterness.
"And you were so rash. You will be wiser another time."
"When I am as wicked as my persecutors."
"No need of quoting others, my son, while you suffer such violent pa.s.sions to master you. Listen to me, my child. I have known your uncle for years--have seen him in his darkest and stormiest moods; and contrived to live peaceably with him. Nay, he respects me more than he does any one else in the world. But I never _opposed his will_. He is not a man to be trifled with--tears and complaints are useless. You cannot touch his heart. He _will_ be obeyed. Left to himself, he may become your friend, and even treat you with a certain degree of kindness and consideration. But if you anger him, he will never forgive, and can be a dreadful enemy. If you love me, Geoffrey, follow my advice and submit to his authority with a good grace."
"I will try not to hate him for your dear sake. I can promise no more!"
I kissed her hand and fell back exhausted on my pillow. My head ached dreadfully from the ill-treatment I had received; and wounded pride made my heart very sore. It was only on her account that I could control the deadly and revengeful feelings I cherished against him.
Theophilus and Mr. Jones, I considered beneath contempt.
CHAPTER V.
A CHANGE IN MY PROSPECTS.
The next day, I was surprised at receiving a message from Mr. Moncton desiring me to attend him in his private office. I went to him in fear and trembling. I was ill, nervous and dispirited, and cared very little as to what in future might become of me.