the man he had been; for S. Gedge Antiques to lose this paragon was simply not to be thought of.
"Boy don't talk foolishly. I'll raise your wages five shillings a week from the first of the New Year."
The old man could not see the look of slow horror that crept into the eyes of William; yet in spite of his other infirmity, he did not fail to catch the note of grim pain in the stifled, "I'll have to leave you, sir. I can't stay here."
Obtuse the old man was, yet he now perceived the finality of these broken words. As he realized all they meant to him, the sharp pain was like the stab of a knife. William was not merely indispensable. His master loved him. And he had killed the thing he loved.
"Boy, I can't let you go." Human weakness fell upon the old man like a shadow; this second blow was even more terrible than the loss of the Van Roon which was still a nightmare in his thoughts. "I'm old. I'm getting deaf and my eyes are going." He who had had no spark of pity for others did not scruple to ask it for himself.
William was a rock. Primitive as he was, now that he could respect his master no more, he must cease to serve him. The revelation of that master's baseness had stricken him to the heart; for the time being it had taken the savour out of life itself.
One hope, one frail hope remained to S. Gedge Antiques, even when he knew at last that his assistant was "through" with him. In times so difficult the young man might not be able to get another job; yet he had only to mention it to discover it was not a staff on which he would be able to lean.
