in the conversation.

[30]

[30]

“He’d better run away,” he said, “if he knows which side his bread is buttered on. I want to tell you, Herbert Harkins, that you are going to suffer for daring to insult me. You say you won the fight this afternoon. Well, if you did, it will be the dearest victory you ever bought. Before another day goes by you will find that your whole family is likely to be thrown out into the street, and that you will be on your way to the poorhouse, where you belong. Perhaps you won’t be so ready to meddle next time.”

Herbert halted instantly. He hurried back to where the others were standing and made towards Arthur Black. Just as he passed by, Adler quietly slipped his right foot out on the sidewalk, and Herbert tripping over it, fell at full length on the pavement. He jumped up smarting with anger and the shock of the fall. He rushed toward Adler, but in the twinkling of an eye, before a blow had been struck, his mind reverted to the scene that had taken place at his home only a short while before. Instantly he was filled with remorse. He realized that it would be most unfortunate for him to get into a street brawl at a time like this. He felt confident of his ability to chastise both Arthur Black and Harry Adler; but he realized the scene that it would cause and the possibility of one or all of them being taken up by the town constable; so without[31] any explanation whatever he lowered his arms and walked down the street again.

[31]

Adler turned to Arthur Black with a sneer on his lips.

“I guess you’ve got that fellow sized up all right,” he said. “He’s a coward; he’s afraid to fight.”

Herbert heard this with burning cheeks. He hurried on his way home, stopping to look neither to the right nor to the left. His mind was filled with conflicting emotions. He thought of the threat that hung over his father, and of the reflection that had been made upon his own personal courage; but try as he would he could not get the sound of that word “coward” out of his ears.

When he reached home the sense of shame had grown so strong that he could not stand the strain any longer. He halted on the doorstep irresolute. The next moment he turned on his heel and walked back to the corner where he had met Arthur Black and Harry Adler. Black had left, but Adler was still there entertaining some of the smaller boys with stories of his own greatness. Herbert 

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