Mr. Taggett’s initial move was to make himself popular in the marble yard, and especially at the tavern, where he spent money freely, though not so freely as to excite any remark except that the lad was running through pretty much all his small pay,—­a recklessness which was charitably condoned in Snelling’s bar-room.  He formed multifarious friendships, and had so many sensible views on the labor problem, advocating the general extinguishment of capitalists, and so on, that his admittance to the Marble Workers’ Association resolved itself into merely a question of time.  The old prejudice against apprentices was already wearing off.  The quiet, evasive man of few words was now a loquacious talker, holding his own with the hardest hitters, and very skillful in giving offense to no one.  “Whoever picks up Blake for a fool,” Dexter remarked one night, “will put him down again.”  Not a shadow of suspicion followed Mr. Taggett in his various comings and goings.  He seemed merely a good-natured, intelligent devil; perhaps a little less devilish and a trifle more intelligent than the rest, but not otherwise different.  Denyven, Peters, Dexter, Willson, and others in and out of the Slocum clique were Blake’s sworn friends.  In brief, Mr. Taggett had the amplest opportunities to prosecute his studies.  Only for a pained look which sometimes latterly shot into his eyes, as he worked at the bench, or as he walked alone in the street, one would have imagined that he was thoroughly enjoying the half-vagabond existence.

The supposition would have been erroneous, for in the progress of those fourteen days’ apprenticeship Mr. Taggett had received a wound in the most sensitive part of his nature:  he had been forced to give up what no man ever relinquishes without a wrench,—­his own idea.

With the exception of an accident in Dana’s Mill, by which Torrini’s hand had been so badly mangled that amputation was deemed necessary, the two weeks had been eventless outside of Mr. Taggett’s personal experience.  What that experience was will transpire in its proper place.  Margaret was getting daily notes from Richard, and Mr. Slocum, overburdened with the secret of Mr. Taggett’s presence in the yard,—­a secret confined exclusively to Mr. Slocum, Richard, and Justice Beemis,—­was restlessly awaiting developments.

The developments came that afternoon when Mr. Taggett walked into the office and startled Mr. Slocum, sitting at the desk.  The two words which Mr. Taggett then gravely and coldly whispered in Mr. Slocum’s ear were,—­

“RICHARD SHACKFORD.”

XIX

Mr. Slocum, who had partly risen from the chair, sank back into his seat.  “Good God!” he said, turning very pale.  “Are you mad?”

Mr. Taggett realized the cruel shock which the pronouncing of that name must have caused Mr. Slocum.  Mr. Taggett had meditated his line of action, and had decided that the most merciful course was brusquely to charge young Shackford with the crime, and allow Mr. Slocum to sustain himself for a while with the indignant disbelief which would be natural to him, situated as he was.  He would then in a manner be prepared for the revelations which, if suddenly presented, would crush him.