THE STEADFAST HEART
…Angus was not the only one to whom the separation would come with pain….
Next morning Browning came, and together he and Wilkins went downstairs to the shop to interview Angus—neither exuberant at the prospect. Angus saw Dave the instant he stepped into the room, and his face lighted, became transmuted by a smile.
“Come over here, Angus,” said Dave.
Sensitive to Wilkins’s moods, Angus caught the underchord of trouble in his voice, and looked apprehensively up into Dave’s eyes.
“Angus, would you like to go to school?” Dave’s question sounded abrupt, curt.
“School…. I dunno….”
“School—where you can be better taught than we can teach you….”
Angus was at a loss. Not comprehending what lay behind the matter, he kept silence.
“Tell him, Browning,” Dave said savagely.
“You know Mr. Woodhouse, Angus. He has offered to do something Dave and I think will be the best thing that could happen to you. He has offered to pay your expenses at a boarding school, where nobody will know you—know about what has happened—and nobody will torment you, and everybody will treat you like—just like any other boy. Would you like that?”
Sudden apprehension fell upon Angus—a pre-
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