Page:Steadfast Heart.djvu/79

 Mary, “and as for the rest—isn’t he just the sort our Sunday school ought to reach?”

“There is a proper way of doing it—not by bringing him here. I object to having my son sit in class with him, and so will other parents.”

“You are perfectly at liberty, Mr. Crane, to take your son away.”

He lacked the courage to stand by his prejudice to that point. Mary waited, but he did not reply.

“I have asked Angus Burke to come into my class,” she said. “It is right that he should come, and I shall do all I can to see that he stays…. I don’t think much of the Christianity of folks who would deny the Church to the unfortunate.”

Crane turned on his heel and strode to his place in front of the pulpit. Encouraged by his example, Mary’s boys arose in revolt.

“I ain’t goin’ to stay,” said Harold Cuyler. “Not with him.”

“Nor me—nor me,” cried others, and they began to scramble out of the seat.

“If you go,” said Mary, “you can’t come back. I sha’n’t be your teacher again. Remember that.”

They scuffled off silently, leaving Mary alone with Angus and her own brother Jimmy. She arose and took Angus by the hand. “Come on,”