Only for a moment, however. He
_knew_ that the bishop would not refuse to see him, and as for
Brown, if Brown refused to admit him, he would go to the servants'
door and ask for Mrs. Martin.
So thinking, he pushed open the iron gate and went slowly up the walk.
"Stay here, Tag. Lie down, sir!" he ordered, and the dog obediently
dropped down on the steps, keeping his bright eyes fastened on his
master, as the boy rang the bell. Theo could almost hear his heart
beat as he waited. Suddenly the door swung open and there was Brown
gazing severely at him.
"Well--what do _you_ want?" questioned the man, brusquely.
"I want--Don't you know me, Brown? I want to see--Mrs. Martin."
The boy's voice was thick and husky, and somehow he could not utter
the bishop's name to Brown standing there with that cold frown on his
face.
"Oh--you want to see Mrs. Martin, do you? Well, I think you've got
cheek to come here at all after leaving the way you did," Brown
growled. He held the door so that the boy could not enter, and seemed
more than half inclined to shut it in his face.
"Oh, please, Brown, _do_ let me in," pleaded the boy, with such a
heart-broken tone in his voice, that Brown relented--he wasn't half so
gruff as he pretended to be--and answered, grudgingly,
"Well, come in, if you must, an' I'll find out if Mrs.
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