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