Page:Steadfast Heart.djvu/84

 of the room, commenced to edge forward. There was a slight alteration in his usual carriage, a faint lightening of his phlegmatic expression—a change which denoted anxiety. As he made his slow progress down the room he scrutinized the floor, stopping every few steps to look searchingly in some corner or cranny. Neither Wilkins nor Jake noticed the boy when he stopped close behind them, his fingers plucking nervously at the seams of his trousers…. He moved from one foot to the other and edged nearer and nearer in his impatience. At last, unable to endure further delay, he reached out and touched Wilkins timidly on the arm. Dave turned to look down inquiringly.

“I swep’ it,” Angus exclaimed breathlessly. “I swep’ it all.”

Wilkins understood. The boy had felt the stirring of responsibility and he had worked for a reward—a reward which was nothing more costly than a word of praise from Dave Wilkins. Angus had swept the floor to please him, and for him had done his best. It was loyalty…. Dave pretended to inspect the floor minutely, and when he had finished he faced the boy seriously. He did not make the mistake of smiling, or of dismissing the job as negligible, for he saw how important, how essential to the boy’s development it was that this faint dawn of ambition,