'There is a Meester James Hadley, an'
he does make pictures--beautiful pictures--but it is not this one. This
Meester Hadley did try, long ago, but he failed to succeed, so my son
said; an' he had to--to cease. For long time he has worked for me, for
the grocer, for any one who would pay--till a leetle while ago. Then he
left. In ze new clothes he had bought, he went away. Ze old ones--
burned. He had nothing else.'
"She said more, but I didn't even listen. I was back with Jimmy by the
roadside, and his 'Don't--tell--the--folks' was ringin' in my ears. I
understood it then, the whole thing from the beginnin'; an' I felt dazed
an' shocked, as if some one had struck me a blow in the face. I wan't
brought up ter think lyin' an' deceivin' was right.
"I got up by an' by an' left the house. I paid poor Jimmy's bill fer
clothes--the clothes that I knew he wore when he stood tall an' straight
in the doorway ter meet his mother's adorin' eyes. Then I went home.
"I told Sam that Jimmy's things got burned up in the fire--which was the
truth. I stopped there. Then I went to see the girl--an' right there I
got the surprise of my life. She knew. He had told her the whole thing
long before he come home, an' insisted on givin' her up.
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