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you if he should set out." "And how much to please the dear mother, whose only son he is?" answered Theodore, quickly. Tommy's eyes drooped, and his cheeks grew very red. "I do mean to," he said at last. "I mean to all over, every day; but the fellows giggle and--and--well I don't know, it all gets wrong before I think." On the whole Theodore understood his subject very well--a good-natured, well-meaning, easily-tempted boy, not safe in a house where liquor was sold or used, _certainly_ not safe where it was freely offered and its refusal laughed at. He even hesitated about going to Mr. Hastings', so sure was he that even with the most favorable results from the call, Tommy would be unsafe in the Euclid House; but then there were other boys who might be reached in this way, and there was his promise to the old lady, and there was besides his eager desire to see what Mr. Hastings would do or say. On the whole he decided to go. "I _do_ manage to have the most extraordinary errands to this house," he soliloquized, while standing on the steps of Hastings' Hall awaiting the answer to his ring. "I wonder how circumstances will develop this evening?" He had not long to wait; he had taken the precaution to write on his card under his name, "Special and important business," and Mr. Hastings stared at it and frowned, and finally ordered his caller to be admitted to his library. It was in all respects a singular interview. Mr. Hastings was at first stiffly, and afterward ironically polite; listened with a sort of sneering courtesy to all that the young man had to say concerning Tommy and his companions, and when Theodore paused for a reply delivered himself of the following smooth sentences: "This is really the most extraordinary of your many extraordinary ideas, Mr. Mall--I beg your pardon (referring to the card which he held in his hand), Mallery, I believe your name is _now_. I did not suppose I was expected to turn spy, and call to account every drop of wine that chances to be used in my buildings; it would be such utterly new business to me that I feel certain of a failure, and _we business_ men, Mr. Mall, do not like to fail in our undertakings. You really will have to excuse me from taking part in such a peculiar proceeding. If we have such a poor weak-minded boy in our employ as you describe, I feel very sorry for him, and would recommend his mother to take him home and keep him in her kitchen." Theodore
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