Read "What Happened to Tad" by Mary E. Ropes online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
SOME days passed, and meanwhile Tad's idea of running off with the / child secretly was so much in his mind, unresisted, unchecked, that / at last it became a distinct purpose for which he began once more to / plot and plan. The foolishness and the utter recklessness of such a / proceeding were lost sight of in his great desire to accomplish what / he had at heart, namely his return to England and the restoration of / the baby to its mother, by way of securing safety and a welcome for / himself. The difficulties and dangers he did not take into account / because he would not. Obstinately bent upon carrying out his idea, he / made everything else yield; he was even prepared to part from Phil, / rather than give up his purpose.
We have seen that during the time of the worst of the troubles that / had befallen the boys, Tad's heart had softened, his character had / improved. But the great change by which all things are made new, had / not yet come into the boy's soul. Self-will still ruled there, and it / would need a yet sharper lesson ere the altar of this idol could be / thrown down, and its sceptre broken.