I tell you I am Jonathan.... Don't you remember you struck me--You struck me across the face--that's what made me run away. JOHN I should have whipped him and put him to bed. JONATHAN I would have run away just the same, Uncle John. JOHN Don't call me Uncle John! JONATHAN But you are my Uncle John. JOHN I ask you where _is_ Jonathan. JONATHAN Would you like to see him? JOHN I should like to know what has become of him. JONATHAN Would you let him come back home? JOHN No. When he ran away, I cast him out forever. JONATHAN Couldn't you forgive him if he was very, very sorry for what he had done?... Couldn't you forgive me, sir?... I am Jonathan. Honest I am Jonathan. JOHN Don't try to deceive me. Jonathan was impudent as you are; but he was a Clay: he was straight and fine. JONATHAN But I broke my back. JOHN Tell me where Jonathan is, you imposter. [_He takes Jonathan by the arm and twists it brutally._ Tell me.... Tell me. JONATHAN I don't know.... Let me go.... I'm _not_ Jonathan. JOHN Tell me.... JONATHAN (_in desperation_) He's dead. JOHN What! JONATHAN He's dead. He died somewhere. JOHN And so you tried to palm yourself off as Jonathan. JONATHAN I'm sorry. JOHN Don't you know you can't make your way with lies? JONATHAN Yes, sir. JOHN You ought to be whipped, but I suppose you don't know any better. I should have you arrested for vagrancy. [_Jonathan winces._ But I won't. I pity you, you dirty little beggar. [_He starts to walk._ You ought to wash your hands and face at least. JONATHAN Please, sir--one minute.... How are Mary and John third? JOHN Mary is ten--a big girl--and John third is eight--a strapping boy who will be a great help to me. JONATHAN And--how is Aunt Letitia? JOHN My aunt died of a broken heart. JONATHAN A broken heart? JOHN Because Jonathan ran away. [_Jonathan buries his face in his arms._ There! Don't cry for someone you've never seen.... Here, here, take this-- [_He presses a coin into Jonathan's hand and goes out._ _Jonathan looks at the coin, then after John, and seems to close his heart. He crosses to the sleeping Hank._ JONATHAN Here, Hank. HANK (_taking the coin_) What'd he say? JONATHAN He didn't know me. HANK I guess you're not going back home now! JONATHAN No, I haven't any home. HANK Then quit your snifflin' an' go on over to that house. JONATHAN All right, Hank. [_Hank curls up and goes to sleep again._ _Jonathan crosses to the cottage and finally summons the courage to knock on the door. As he does so the lights within grow bright and disclose a lovely little room with a beautiful piano in the centre. In a moment a young woman appears and opens the doors. It is Susan Sample. She is charmingly older; but she is dressed almost as she was in the old lumber room._ JONATHAN Please, Miss--why-- SUSAN What do you want? JONATHAN I--don't you know me? SUSAN No, I don't know you, little boy. What do you want? JONATHAN