Dr. Lavendar stayed with them until noon. He had been summoned just as
he was sitting down to breakfast, and he had gone instantly, leaving
Mary wringing her hands at the double distress of a dreadful calamity
and Dr. Lavendar's going without his breakfast. When he saw William
King he asked no questions, except: "Who will tell his grandfather?"
But of course there was only one person to tell Mr. Benjamin Wright,
and Dr. Lavendar knew it. "But you must come with me, William;
Benjamin is very frail."
"Yes;" said William King; "only you've got to have something to eat
first."
And that gave Dr. Lavendar the chance to ask Mrs. Wright for some
breakfast, which made her stop crying, poor soul, for a little while.
As Goliath pulled them slowly up the hill, William told part of his
part of the story. He had dropped in to the Wrights' the night before
to say how-do-you-do. "It was nearly ten. I only stayed a few minutes;
then I went off. I had got as far as the gate, and I was--was fixing
my lantern, and I thought I heard a shot. And I said--'What's that?'
And I stood there, sort of holding my breath, you know; I couldn't
believe it was a shot. And then they called. When I got to the house,
it was all over. It was instantaneous. Samuel told me that Sam had
been fooling with his revolver, and--"
"Yes;" said Dr. Lavendar; "that's what Eliza told me."
Both men were silent. Then Dr. Lavendar said "Will it kill Benjamin?"
"I don't know. I don't know;" the doctor said, sighing. "Oh, Dr.
Lavendar, why does the Lord hit the innocent over the guilty's
shoulder? The boy is out of it; but his father and mother and
grandfather, and--and others, they have got to bear it."
"Why, Willy, my boy," said Dr. Lavendar, "that's where the comfort of
it is. It means we're all one--don't you see? If we suffer in the
boy's suffering or wrong-doing, it is because we and he are one in
Christ Jesus."
"Yes, sir," said William respectfully. But he did not understand.
When they reached The Top, it seemed to take them a long time to hitch
Goliath. It was Dr. Lavendar who got himself together first and said
calmly, "Come, William."
The front door was open, and the two bearers of heavy news entered
unannounced. Benjamin Wright was in the dining-room, where the
shutters were bowed to keep out the heat. He had taken off his hat,
and was pottering about among his canaries, scolding Simmons and
swearing at the weather. Dr. Lavendar and William, coming from the
white glare of sunshine, could hardly distinguish him as he shuffled
back and forth among the shadows, except when he crossed the strip of
dazzling green light between the bowed shutters, Dr. Lavendar stopped
on the threshold; William stood a little behind him.