Ishmael was half stunned, exhausted, and bleeding; but his confused
senses had gathered the meaning of the false accusation made against
him. And, through the blood bursting from his mouth, he gurgled forth
the words: "I didn't, sir! The Lord above, he knows I didn't!"
"He did! he did! Didn't he, Ben?" cried Master Alfred.
Ben was silent.
"And we beat him! Didn't we, Ben?" questioned the young villain, who
well understood his weak younger brother.
"Yes," replied Ben, who was always willing to oblige his elder brother
if he could do so without telling an out and out falsehood; "we did beat
him."
The gentleman raised the battered boy to his feet, took a look at him
and murmured to himself: "Well! if this lad is a thief and a liar, there is no truth in
phrenology or physiognomy either."
Then, speaking aloud, he said: "My boy! I am very sorry for what has just happened! You were placed
here to guard my property. You betrayed your trust! You, yourself, stole
it! And you have told a falsehood to conceal your theft. No! do not
attempt to deny it! Here are two young gentlemen of position who are
witnesses against you!"
Ishmael attempted to gurgle some denial, but his voice was drowned in
the blood that still filled his mouth.
"My poor boy," continued the gentleman--"for I see you are poor, if you
had simply eaten the fruit and nuts, that would have been wrong
certainly, being a breach of trust; but it would have been almost
excusable, for you might have been hungry and been tempted by the smell
of the fruit and by the opportunity of tasting it. And if you had
confessed it frankly, I should as frankly have forgiven you. But I am
sorry to say that you have attempted to conceal your fault by falsehood.
And do you know what that falsehood has done? It has converted the act,
that I should have construed as mere trespass, into a theft!"
Ishmael stooped down and bathed his bloody face in the stream and then
wiped it clean with his coarse pocket handkerchief. And then he raised
his head with a childish dignity most wonderful to see, and said: "Listen to me, sir, if you please. I did not take the fruit or the nuts,
or anything that was yours. It is true, sir, as you said, that I am
poor. And I was hungry, very hungry indeed, because I have had nothing
to eat since six o'clock this morning. And the oranges and figs did
smell nice, and I did want them very much. But I did not touch them,
sir! I could better bear hunger than I could bear shame! And I should
have suffered shame if I had taken your things! Yes, even though you
might have never found out the loss of them. Because--I should have
known myself to be a thief, and I could not have borne that, sir! I did
not take your property, sir, I hope you will believe me."