"
'"Beware what you do, sir," cried George, frowning in his turn. "Get
your menial to punish me in this degrading manner, and you will repent
it to the last day of your life."
'"Oh, monstrous depravity! Do you dare to threaten me? Take off your
jacket, sir.--Ralph, give him twenty lashes, and don't spare the whip."
'The man drew back. "I cannot strike my master's son."
'"Do as I bid you."
'The boy stood firm as a rock, his lips compressed, his brow rigid, and
his face livid in its ghastly pallor. Turning from his stern parent to
the old man, he said, with an air of calm indifference:
'"I am ready; perform your task. I am not the first victim who has
suffered wrongfully. My Saviour endured a harder scourge; I will learn
patience from His cross."
'"What barefaced wickedness!" groaned the Doctor. "God grant him
repentance, and save his miserable soul."
'"Amen," said Ralph, as he turned to his abhorrent task with an energy
equal to the guilt of the criminal.
'George bore the severe castigation without a murmur. When it was over,
Doctor Leatrim told him to go to his own room, and pray to God to
soften his hard and impenitent heart.
'As the boy passed his father on his way out, he gave him a look full
of love and compassion, and said, in a firm voice:
'"Sir, I pity and forgive you. If you have erred, it was under the full
conviction that you were doing your duty."
'He closed the door softly, and staggered up to his own chamber.
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