Page:Anthony John (IA anthonyjohn00jero).pdf/67

 "I'd like you not to go away from Millsborough," answered Anthony.

The period of prosperity following the visit of Wandering Peter had lasted all but two years. It came to an end with the death of his father. It was while working on his new invention that the accident had happened.

He was alone in the workshop one evening after supper; and while hoisting a heavy iron bar the rope had broken and the bar had fallen upon him and crushed his skull. He lingered for a day or two, mostly unconscious. It was a few hours before the end that Anthony, who had been sent upstairs by his mother to see if anything had happened, found his father with his eyes wide open. The man made a sign to him to close the door. The boy did so and then came and stood beside the bed.

"There won't be anything left, sonny," his father whispered. "I've been a fool. Everything I could get or borrow I put into it. It would have been all right, of course, if I had lived and could have finished it. Your mother doesn't know, as yet. Break it to her after I'm gone, d'you mind. I haven't the pluck."

Anthony promised. There seemed to be more that his father wanted to say. He lay staring at