It spoke ill for him with my father.
"Answer.

I will not be hard upon thee--to-night, at least." "As you like, Abel Fletcher," answered the boy, sturdily.

"I was doing no harm.

I was in the tan-yard." "Thy business there ?" "None at all.

I was with the men--they were watching, and had a candle; and I wanted to sit up, and had no light." "What didst thee want to sit up for ?" pursued my father, keen and sharp as a ferret at a field-rat's hole, or a barrister hunting a witness in those courts of law that were never used by, though often used against, us Quakers.
John hesitated, and again his painful, falsely-accusing blushes tried him sore.