" It seemed to Fred that if
Mr. Farebrother had had a beak and talons instead of his very
capable tongue, his mode of attack could hardly be more cruel.
He had a horrible conviction that behind all this hypothetic
statement there was a knowledge of some actual change in Mary's feeling.
"Of course I know it might easily be all up with me," he said,
in a troubled voice. "If she is beginning to compare--" He broke off,
not liking to betray all he felt, and then said, by the help of a
little bitterness, "But I thought you were friendly to me."
"So I am; that is why we are here. But I have had a strong disposition
to be otherwise. I have said to myself, `If there is a likelihood
of that youngster doing himself harm, why should you interfere?
Aren't you worth as much as he is, and don't your sixteen years
over and above his, in which you have gone rather hungry, give you
more right to satisfaction than he has? If there's a chance of his
going to the dogs, let him--perhaps you could nohow hinder it--
and do you take the benefit.'"
There was a pause, in which Fred was seized by a most uncomfortable
chill. What was coming next? He dreaded to hear that something
had been said to Mary--he felt as if he were listening to a
threat rather than a warning. When the Vicar began again there
was a change in his tone like the encouraging transition to a major key.
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