"A boyish quarrel!" retorted Mrs. Davis, indignantly. "You have a singular way of standing by your son, Mr. Davis. A low fellow insults and abuses him, and you exert yourself to mate excuses for him."
"You misapprehend me, my dear."
"Don't 'my dear' me," said the exasperated lady. "I thought you would be as angry as I am, but you seem to take the whole thing very coolly, upon my word!"
Mrs. Davis had a sharp temper and a sharp tongue, and her husband stood considerably in awe of both. He had more than once been compelled to yield to them, and he saw that he must make some concession to order to keep the peace.
"Well, what do you want me to do?" he asked.
"Want you to do! I should think that was plain enough."
"I will send for the boy and reprimand him."
"Reprimand him!" repeated the lady, contemptuously. "And what do you think he will care for that?"
"More than you think, perhaps."
"Stuff and nonsense! He'll be insulting Halbert again to-morrow."
"I am not so sure that Halbert is not in fault in some way."
"Of course, you are ready to side with a stranger against your own son."
"What do you want me to do?" asked the superintendent, submissively.
"Discharge the boy from your employment," said his wife, promptly.
"But how can he and his mother live?—they depend on his wages."
"That is their affair. He ought to have thought of that before he raised his hand against Halbert."
"I cannot do what you wish," said the superintendent, with some firmness, for he felt that it would indeed be a piece of meanness to eject from the factory the boy whom he had already so deeply wronged; "but I will send for young Rushton and require him to apologize to Halbert."
"And if he won't do it?" demanded Halbert.
"Then I will send him away."
"Will you promise that, father?" asked Halbert, eagerly.
"Yes," said Mr. Davis, rather reluctantly.
"All right!" thought Halbert; "I am satisfied; for I know he never will consent to apologize."
Halbert had good reason for this opinion, knowing, as he did, that he had struck the first blow, a circumstance he had carefully concealed from his father. Under the circumstances he knew very well that his father would be called upon to redeem his promise.
The next morning, at the regular hour, our hero went to the factory, and taking his usual place, set to work. An hour passed, and nothing was said to him. He began to think that Halbert, feeling that he was the aggressor, had resolved to let the matter drop.
But he was speedily undeceived.
At a quarter after eight the superintendent made his appearance, and after a brief inspection of the work, retired to his private office. Ten minutes later, the foreman of the room in which he was employed came up to Robert and touched him on the shoulder.
"Mr. Davis wishes to see you in his office," he said.
"Now for it!" thought Robert, as he left his work and made his way, through the deafening clamor of the machinery, to the superintendent's room.
CHAPTER V.
DISCHARGED
The superintendent sat at an office table writing a letter. He did not at first look up, but kept on with his employment. He had some remnants of conscience left, and he shrank from the task his wife had thrust upon him.
"Mr. Baker tells me you wish to see me, Mr. Davis," said Robert, who had advanced into the office, by way of calling his attention.
"Yes," said the superintendent, laying down his pen, and turning half round; "I hear a bad account of you, Rushton."
"In what way, sir?" asked our hero, returning his look fearlessly.
"I hear that you have been behaving like a young ruffian," said Mr. Davis, who felt that he must make out a strong case to justify him in dismissing Robert from the factory.
"This is a serious charge, Mr. Davis," said Robert, gravely, "and I hope you will be kind enough to let me know what I have done, and the name of my accuser."
"I mean to do so. Probably it will be enough to say that your accuser is my son, Halbert."
"I supposed so. I had a difficulty with Halbert yesterday, but I consider he was in fault."
"He says you insulted and struck him."
"I did not insult him. The insult came from him."
"Did you strike him?"
"Yes, but not until he had struck me first."
"He didn't mention this, but even if he had you should not have struck him back."
"Why not?" asked Robert.
"You should have reported the affair to me."
"And allowed him to keep on striking me?"
"You must have said something to provoke him," continued the superintendent, finding it a little difficult to answer this question, "or he would not have done it."
"If you will allow me," said Robert, "I will give you an account of the whole affair."
"Go on," said the superintendent, rather unwillingly, for he strongly suspected that our hero would be able to justify himself, and so render dismissal more difficult.
"Halbert took offense because I accompanied Hester Paine home from the writing school, evening before last, though I did with the young lady's permission, as he knew. He met me yesterday at twelve o'clock, as I was going home to dinner, and undertook to lecture me on my presumption in offering my escort to one so much above me. He also taunted me with being a factory boy. I told him to keep his advice to himself, as I should not ask his permission when I wanted to walk, with Hester Paine. Then he became enraged, and struck me with his cane. I took it from him and returned the blow, breaking the cane in doing it."
"Ahem!" said the superintendent, clearing his throat; "you must have been very violent."
"I don't think I was, sir. I struck him a smart blow, but the cane was very light and easily broken."
"You were certainly very violent," continued Mr. Davis, resolved to make a point of this. "Halbert did not break the cane when he struck you."
"He struck the first blow."
"That does not alter the question of the amount of violence, which was evidently without justification. You must have been in a great passion."
"I don't think I was in any greater passion than Halbert."
"In view of the violence you made use of, I consider that you owe my son an apology."
"An apology!" repeated Robert, whose astonishment was apparent in his tone.
"I believe I spoke plainly," said the superintendent, irritably.
"If any apology is to be made," said our hero, firmly, "it ought to come from Halbert to me."
"How do you make that out?"
"He gave me some impertinent advice, and, because I did not care to take it, he struck me."
"And you seized his cane in a fury, and broke it in returning the blow."
"I acknowledge that I broke the cane," said Robert; "and I suppose it is only right that I should pay for it. I am willing to do that, but not to apologize."
"That will not be sufficient," said the superintendent, who knew that payment for the cane would fall far short of satisfying his wife or Halbert. "The cost of the cane was a trifle, and I am willing to buy him another, but I cannot consent that my son should be subjected to such rude violence, without an apology from the offender. If I passed this over, you might attack him again to-morrow."
"I am not in the habit of attacking