Then Dr. Lavendar began to plead....
It was a long struggle. Sometimes it really seemed as if, as the
senior warden had said, he "could not" do it; as if it were a physical
impossibility. And there is no doubt that to change a habit of thought
which has endured for thirty-two years involves a physical as well as
a spiritual effort, which may cause absolute anguish. Mr. Wright's
face was white; twice he wiped the perspiration from his forehead:
half a dozen times he said in an agonized tone, "I cannot do it; I
cannot."
"Samuel, your father is very old; he is very feeble; but he has had
the strength to take the first step. Haven't you the strength to take
the second? Will you carry your wicked quarrel to his grave? No, Sam,
no! I am sure you won't."...
An hour later, when Dr. Lavendar sat down to a dinner of more than
ordinary Sunday coldness, his old face was twinkling with pleasure.
Samuel had promised to go with him that night to The Top! Perhaps as
the still afternoon softened into dusk his joy began to cast a shadow
of apprehension. If so, he refused to notice it. It was the Lord's
business, and "He moves in a mysterious way," he hummed to himself,
waiting in the warm darkness for Samuel to call for him,--for both the
quailing men had made Dr. Lavendar's presence a condition of the
interview.
At half-past seven Mr. Wright arrived. He was in a shiny box-buggy,
behind a smart sorrel. He was dressed in his black and solemn best,
and he wore his high hat with a flat brim which only came out at
funerals. His dignity was so tremendous that his great bulk seemed to
take even more than its share of room in the buggy. When he spoke, it
was with a laboriousness that crushed the breath out of any possible
answer. As they drove up the hill he cleared his throat every few
minutes. Once he volunteered the statement that he had told Sam not to
stay late at--at-"Oh," said Dr. Lavendar, "your father will pack him off;--he will
probably take the opportunity to call on Mrs. Richie," he added
smiling. But Sam's father did not smile. And, indeed, Dr. Lavendar's
own face was sober when they turned in between the sagging old gate-
posts at The Top.
When the moment came to get out of the buggy, Samuel looked at his
companion dumbly; a sort of paralysis seemed to hold him in his seat.
When he did move, Dr. Lavendar heard him gasp for breath, and in the
darkness, as he hitched the sorrel to a staple in one of the big
locusts, his face went white. The large manner which had dominated Old
Chester for so many years was shrinking and shrivelling; the whole man
seemed, somehow, smaller....