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Updated: June 2, 2025
He pressed his hands tightly over his breast, as he murmured in a hollow, broken voice, "Nothing." "You plead guilty?" "I should prove myself a liar, sir, if I did." "Liar and thief! Base hypocrite! Kneel down and ask pardon of that worthy man for the injurious language you have used towards him." "Never!" George Leatrim fixed his brow like iron. "I will die first."
His mind was too much engrossed with his ministerial duties to attend to these minor concerns. Ralph was a better business man, he said; he could manage such matters more skilfully and economically than he could. 'If Mrs. Leatrim came to consult him about any domestic arrangements, it was always put a stop to. "Don't trouble me, Mary; go to Ralph, he can advise you what to do." Poor Mrs.
His calamities had endeared him to his people, and he had become their pastor in the truest sense of the word. 'On the anniversary of the day when George and his mother died, Dr. Leatrim holds a solemn fast, and excludes himself from every eye, spending the long day in meditation and prayer.
"Leave that to me. I have a solemn duty to perform for my murdered son. May God give me strength for the task. Call Ralph Wilson, but do not tell him what has happened." 'Humbled and subdued, but still unconvinced of his son's innocence, the Doctor left the room, and shortly returned, followed by the old man. 'Mrs. Leatrim motioned to him to approach the bed.
The inscription that recorded the untimely death of his son made me start, it was so painfully characteristic of the truthfulness of the father: "Here, repose in peace the mortal remains of George Leatrim, who died at the age of 15, of a broken heart, caused by a false accusation and the unchristian severity of his too credulous father.
I have been a hypocrite all my life. I loved gold I worshipped it I lost no opportunity of obtaining it when I could escape detection; but it has destroyed my miserable soul." "But why lay the robbery of the box on George?" asked Dr. Leatrim. "You were safe from detection; I never suspected you." "But he did," returned the old man bitterly. "He never loved me. I saw it in his eye.
"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.
This was always followed by a short address, and an earnest prayer from Dr. Leatrim. It was a happy day for him and George, who seemed to enjoy it as much as his father. 'You may imagine the consternation of the Rector, when he opened the box on the Saturday morning, and found the same deficiency which had struck him as so remarkable on the previous Christmas.
There was always trouble in the household a perpetual changing of domestics, greatly to the annoyance of Mrs. Leatrim; but the matter was one of small importance to the rector, provided he was left in peace to pursue his studies. 'Amiable and gentle as George was, he could not force himself to feel any affection for Ralph Wilson.
Recollect this circumstance, for it is connected with my story. 'In the porch Dr. Leatrim had placed a box against the wall, on the right-hand side as you went in, for receiving contributions for the poor. It was only unlocked twice a year, at Christmas and Easter, and its contents distributed to the most needy among his parishioners.
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