"
"It was very presumptuous in a factory boy like you offering your escort
to a young lady like Miss Paine."
"I don't see it," said Robert, independently; "and I don't think it
struck Hester in that light. We had a very agreeable walk."
Halbert was provoked and inflamed with jealousy, and the look with which
he regarded our hero was by no means friendly.
"You mustn't regard yourself as Miss Paine's equal because she
condescended to walk with you," he said. "You had better associate with
those of your own class hereafter, and not push yourself in where your
company is not agreeable."
"Keep your advice to yourself, Halbert Davis," said Robert, hotly, for
he felt the insult conveyed in these words. "If I am a factory boy I
don't intend to submit to your impertinence; and I advise you to be
careful what you say. As to Miss Hester Paine, I shall not ask your
permission to walk with her, but shall do so whenever she chooses to
accept my escort. Has she authorized you to speak for her?"
"No; but----"
"Then wait till she does."
Halbert was so incensed that, forgetting Robert's superior strength,
evident enough to any one who saw the two, one with his well-knit,
vigorous figure, the other slender and small of frame, he raised his
cane and struck our hero smartly upon the arm.
In a moment the cane was wrested from his grasp and applied to his own
person with a sharp, stinging blow which broke the fragile stick in two.
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