“Oh!  I wasn’t kind to him!  I was as bad to him as you, and all the rest!  I wished him dead, and neglected him!”

“You did!”

“Of course!  Could anybody expect me to care more for him than his own father did?  Yes, I wished him dead, and neglected him, because I thought he had no right to be in the world, and would be better out of it!  So did everyone else.  But he sucked his little, skinny thumb, and looked alive at us with his big, bright eyes, and lived in defiance of everybody.  And only see what he has lived to be!  But it is the good Lord’s doings and not mine, and not yours, Herman Brudenell, so don’t thank me anymore for kindness that I never showed to Ishmael, and don’t tell any more bragging lies about the checks for thousands of dollars that you never left him!”

Again Herman Brudenell stamped impatiently, frowned, bit his lips, and said: 

“You shall not goad me to anger with the two-edged sword of your tongue, Hannah!  You are unjust, because you are utterly mistaken in your premises!  I did leave that check of which I speak!  And I wish to know what became of it, that it was not used for the support and education of Ishmael.  Listen, now, and I will bring the whole circumstance to your recollection.”

And Herman Brudenell related in detail all the little incidents connected with his drawing of the check, ending with:  “Now don’t you remember, Hannah?”

Hannah looked surprised, and said: 

“Yes, but was that little bit of dirty white paper, tore out of an old book, worth all that money?”

“Yes! after I had drawn a check upon it!”

“I didn’t know!  I didn’t understand!  I was sort o’ dazed with grief, I suppose.”

“But what became of the paper, Hannah?”

“Mrs. Jones lit the candle with it!”

“Oh!  Hannah!”

“Was the money all lost? entirely lost because that little bit of paper was burnt?”

“To you and to Ishmael it was, of course, since you never received it; but to me it was not, since it was never drawn from the bank.”

“Well, then, Mr. Brudenell, since the money was not lost, I do not so much care if the check was burnt!  I should not have used it for myself, or Ishmael, anyhow!  Though I am glad to know that you did not neglect him, and leave him to perish in destitution, as I supposed you had!  I am very glad you took measures for his benefit, although he never profited by them, and I never would have let him do so.  Still, it is pleasant to think that you did your duty; and I am sorry I was so unjust to you, Mr. Brudenell.”

“Say no more of that, Hannah.  Let us talk of my son.  Remember that it is only to you that I can talk of him.  Tell me all about his infancy and childhood.  Tell me little anecdotes of him.  I want to know more about him than the judge could tell me.  I know old women love to gossip at great length of old times, so gossip away, Hannah—­tell me everything.  You shall have a most interested listener.”