son,” his father said earnestly. “If that boy starts another fight I want you to do something. Are you listening to me?”
“What do you want?”
“I want you to walk away. Don’t take your eyes off him, just walk away, that’s all.”
Douglas attempted to twist out of the grip on his arm. He was deeply surprised by his father’s strength. His arm had begun to throb from the pain. He was confused and defiant, and all that occurred to him was that he was being asked to run away from a fight, and not only that but from a boy he knew he could lick.
“Do you hear me?”
“Well, why?”
“Never mind why.”
“Okay,” he responded grudgingly, but added, as soon as his arm was released, “only he better cut out throwing rocks at me.”
“Under no circumstances. I want this clearly understood.”
“All right,” he said. He was resentful and ashamed. More than anything else he was afraid of being thought a coward.
After he had gone upstairs his parents were silent for a few minutes. Mr. Bridge was thoughtful and Mrs. Bridge was waiting for what he would say.
“That Leacock boy is going to kill somebody one of these days,” he observed.
“I do think they let him run wild,” she agreed, “but I’m certain he wouldn’t do anything really wrong.”
“You just watch,” he said angrily.
“It was awfully strange about setting the garage on fire,” she admitted. “And gracious, I certainly don’t approve of fighting, but it does seem that Douglas can look out for himself.”
“Douglas is a boy and thinks like a boy. Tarquin Leacock has the mind of an adult.”
“Well,” said Mrs. Bridge as she put on her reading glasses and opened the latest copy of The Tattler, “if that’s the case, I shouldn’t think there’d be much to worry about.”
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