other and
sister, and how much he would keep back. He did not in his heart
believe that Sam Brattle had intended to enter his house and rob
it; but he did believe that the men with whom Sam was associated
were thieves and housebreakers. If these men were prowling about
Bullhampton it was certainly his duty to have them arrested if
possible, and to prevent probable depredations, for his neighbours'
sake as well as for his own. Nor would he be justified in neglecting
this duty with the object of saving Sam Brattle. If only he could
entice Sam away from them, into his own hands, under the power of his
tongue,--there might probably be a chance.

"You think he'll be home to-night?" he asked.

"He said he would," replied Fanny, who knew that she could not answer
for her brother's word.

"If he does, bid him come to me. Make him come to me! Tell him that
I will do him no harm. God knows how truly it is my object to do him
good."

"We are sure of that, sir," said the mother.

"He need not be afraid that I will preach to him. I will only talk to
him, as I would to a younger brother."

"But what is it that he has done, sir?"

"He has done nothing that I know. There;--I will tell you the whole.
I found him prowling about my garden at near midnight, yesterday. Had
he been alone I should have thought nothing of it. He thinks he owes
me a grudge for speaking to his father; and had I found him paying it
by filling his pockets with fruit, I should only have told him that
it would be better that he should come and take it in the morning."

"But he wasn't--stealing?" asked the mother.

"He was doing nothing; neither were the men. But they were
blackguards, and he was in bad hands. He could not have been in
worse. I had a tussle with one of them, and I am sure the man was
hurt. That, however, has nothing to do with it. What I desire is to
get a hold of Sam, so that he may be rescued from the hands of such
companions. If you can make him come to me, do so."

Fanny promised, and so did the mother; but the promise was given in
that tone which seemed to imply that nothing should be expected from
its performance. Sam had long been deaf to the voices of the women
of his family, and, when his father's anger would be hot against him,
he would simply go, and live where and how none of them knew. Among
such men and women as the Brattles, parental authority must needs lie
much lighter than it does with those who are wont to give much an