The Dark House

y of carbolic. There was a large lithograph of "Love and Life" on the pure white wall and a pot of flowers on t

belong-to be one of the herd-and he knew dimly that he would first have to learn its laws and submit to its tortures. He tried to grin back when the titter, which seemed endemic, broke out afresh as he stumbled on his ignominious pilgrimage, but the unasked-for partition in their amusement seemed to exasperate them. They whispered things to one another. They commented on

he undecipherable carvings of his predecessors, but at once he loved it. It was his. Its retired posi

as though he had just swallowed a disagreeable medicine. He pursed his lips and held tight to the lapels of h

tful and learned

them. If the little dark man was like a blackbird, captive and resentful, the newcomer was like a meagre and somewhat fluttered hen. His hands and wrists were long and yellow and si

s. One moment, Mr. Ric

was about him. They both looked in his

t Ston

s hand by an invisible string. The desk was much too small for him and he had to wiggle to get free from it. The lid banged. Instantly every boy had turned in his seat to gaze

an smiled p

too severe with you. At the same time we must begin as we are to go on.

oundlessly. But no answ

etorical. "You were

trying to make your

st, was unbe

Robert inter

r,'" but he was beyond help. From that moment on he w

were only pretending to join in, now weren't

N

hen you answer me. How is it that you do

N

'si

ir

hen. You go to c

stared

surely your mo

st him. He was ready to fight them now. If they were going to say anything about his mother, good or bad, he

father

't got a

iled faintly, not

t yet a gentleman in in

es care

isti

pray, is C

orner of a curtain had been raised for a moment, l

n't k

nervously, threatening to explode outright. He himself had an air of sli

u should answer properly. But still, surely you have been taugh

moment of sudden, vivid

ng about their ears, leaving him in safety. Without knowing how or why, he knew he had got the better of them a

ught your catechism-t

N

ld have sung the hymn, my poor

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em all helpless, every one of them, by the sheer audacity of his admissions. Now with one word

. Morton quite realized-- A heavy task in fron

to look up. He was driven by a relentless curiosity to meet the worst. Mr. Ricardo had resumed his place. He did not so much as glance at Robert. He clung on to

e in peace both now and hereafter. I know your amiable propensities, and my own con

No one looked at Robert again. And yet he knew, with all the c