. Monto's store one day last week, and happened to say
something the little man did not like, when he fired up and insulted him
most grossly."

"Indeed!"

"Yes. Mr. Barker told me himself. He said he was never more hurt in his
life."

"He left the store, of course."

"Oh, yes. He turned on his heel and walked out, and says he will never
darken the door of Monto's store again."

"It is too bad, this habit of insulting people which Monto has. I know
several persons who are hot as fire against him."

"If there were nothing worse about him than that," said Mr. Jones, "I
would be glad. His conduct towards the young man he raised was
unpardonable."

"What was that? I never heard about it," remarked Mr. Lee.

"He had a young man whom he had raised from a lad, and who, it is said,
was always faithful to his interests. Toward the last he became wild,
having fallen into bad company. If Monto had been patient and forbearing
toward him, the young man might have been reclaimed from his error; but
his irascibility and impatience with every thing that did not go by
square and rule, caused him to deal harshly with faults that needed a
milder corrective. The young man, of course, grew worse. At last he got
himself into a difficulty, and was arrested. Bail was demanded for his
appearance to stand a trial for misconduct and breach of law. Monto was
sent for to go his bail; but he heartlessly refused, and the poor fellow
was thrown into prison, where he lay four months, and was then, after a
trial, dismissed with a reprimand from the court. Feeling himself
disgraced by confinement in a jail, he enlisted in the army as soon as
he got free, and has gone off to the Indian country in the West. Isn't
it melancholy? The ruin of that young man lies at Monto's door. His
blood is on the skirts of his garments!"

"Dreadful to think of! Isn't it?" said Mrs. Mayberry. "Just imagine my
son or your son thus cruelly dealt by! A fiend in human shape couldn't
have done more!"

"It'll come back upon him one of these days. I believe in retribution.
No man can do such things with impunity," added Mr. Lee. "Mark my words
for it--Monto will repent of this, as well as a good many other acts of
his life, before he dies."

"He's the meanest man I ever saw," said Mr. Jones. "I don't believe he
ever gave a dollar for charitable purposes in his life."

"You may possibly err, there," remarked a fourth in the company, who had
not before spoken.

"I sh