"Talbot didn't say nuth'n' 'bout that," he remarked composedly. Mr. Conant uttered an impatient ejaculation. It was one of his peculiarities to give a bark similar to that of a dog when greatly annoyed. After staring at the boy a while he took out Will Morrison's letter to Talbot, opened it and held it before Bub's face. "Read that!" he cried. Bub grinned and shook his head. "_I_ kain't read," he said. Mr. Conant, in a loud and severe voice, read Mr. Morrison's instruction to his man Talbot to do everything in his power to make the Conants comfortable and to serve them as faithfully as he did his own master. The boy listened, whittling slowly. Then he said: "Mebbe that's all right; an' ag'in, mebbe tain't. Seein' as I kain't read I ain't goin' ter take no one's word fer it." "You insolent brat!" exclaimed Peter Conant, highly incensed. Then he turned and called: "Come here, Mary Louise." Mary Louise promptly advanced and with every step she made the boy retreated a like distance, until the lawyer seized his arm and held it in a firm grip. "What do you mean by running away?" he demanded. "I hates gals," retorted Bub sullenly. "Don't be a fool. Come here, Mary Louise, and read this letter to the boy, word for word." Mary Louise, marking the boy's bashfulness and trying to restrain a smile, read Mr. Morrison's letter. "You see," said the lawyer sharply, giving Bub a little shake, "those are the exact words of the letter. We're going to enter the Lodge and take possession of it, as Mr. Morrison has told us to do, and if you don't obey my orders I shall give you a good flogging. Do you understand that?" Bub nodded, more cheerfully. "If ye do it by force," said he, "that lets me out. Nobody kin blame me if I'm forced." Mary Louise laughed so heartily that the boy cast an upward, half- approving glance at her face. Even Mr. Conant's stern visage relaxed.