Blair Collection > Rhys Lewis, minister of Bethel

RHYS LEWIS. 275
"Uncle," I replied— for he was none other than the man
■whom I hated most on earth ever since I had first seen him
■when I called him "the Irishman" — "Uncle," I said, "if I
shook hands with you I should expect my hand to rot from
that moment. I detest yoxi with all my heart. Let me out of
this accursed place."
" What's the matter with the boy ? "Why are you so cross ?
Why hate me ?" he asked.
"Why?" rejoined I. "You know why, very well. It is
you who've been the cause of all my mother's misery and mine.
It was you who ruined my father. It was you who taught
him to poach. It was "with you he was when he did that deed
which compelled him to quit the country. Why do I hate you
indeed I Because it was you, of all people, who gave my
mother most trouble, my father alone excepted. How often
have you been to our house interfering with our comfort ? How
many times did my mother give you the last shilling she had
in the world so as to get rid of you ? And how much oftener
would you have worried us if you hadn't been afraid of
Bob ?"
"Bob was d fool," he observed. "Didn't your father
and I give him a chance of bolting on the night of his arrest ?
But he wouldn't, and so, like a ninny, he was taken to
gaol."
"Don't you call Bob a fool," said I. " Bob would have been
ashamed to take help from two such scoundrels as you and my
father. Uncle, tell me the truth— if you haven't forgotten the
way — where is my father ? Is he hiding in this abominable
hole ? Tell the truth, for once in your lifetime !"
" He is not," was the answer. " Your parent is in a much
warmer place."
"Where? Speak plainly, and tell us the truth. Where is
he ?" I asked again.
" How can I tell ? I never was on the grounds where your
father now is. All I know is that he has kicked the bucket ;
and it's a blessed shame you haven't a bit of crape about your
hat ; you a Methodist, too !"
To my discredit, be it said, my heart leaped with joy at the
news.