in a grudging tone⁠—

“Well, what do you want, anyhow?”

“I don’t quite know what you mean,” said Dick, in a bewildered manner.

“How long do you want to stop, and what do you want us to do for you?” asked the old man, impatiently.

“I want to lie here only until I am strong enough to get on to the nearest hotel. I will pay you for the accommodation, and for the food I eat. I am really very hungry now; may I have something more to eat?” Dick asked, turning his head to look at Nell, who stood by the side of the settle, her face a study of vexation and worry.

“Can you pay for it, I want to know?” Doss Umpey began, but Nell silenced him in an imperious fashion.

“It won’t make any difference, anyhow, granfer, for we ain’t going to let him starve, and if you ain’t willing for him to have supper, you won’t get any yourself.”

“Of course I’m willing he should eat. Only a poor man like me, with others depending on him, has got to be careful,” grumbled the old man, climbing down with so much haste that Dick would have laughed if he had not been so angry.

He was about to fumble for his pocket-book in order to hurl some money at his inhospitable host; but Nell, divining his intention, stopped him with an authoritative gesture, then spoke to the old man with quiet decision in her manner.

“If you are so anxious to get rid of the gentleman, granfer, you had best give Blossom a good supper to-night; then by to-morrow morning the horse could take him to Button End. They’d be able to house him comfortable at Joe Lipton’s.”

“That’s a good idea, Nell. What a pity you didn’t think of it sooner! Then I’d have saddled the beast and taken him over to-night. We should have been able to be quit of him the sooner.”

“Oh, he wouldn’t have been fit to go to-night,” she answered.

“Well, he shall go bright and early to-morrow morning, anyhow,” said the old man; then departed, slamming the door behind him.

When he had gone, Nell stirred the dull fire into a cheerful blaze, then brought a bowl of some savoury stew to the settle where Dick was lying.

“You’d best sit up and take your supper now, while you can have it in peace. Granfer is a bit trying sometimes, and he just hates strangers like poison,” Nell said, as she arranged the bowl and the iron spoon so that her guest, by turning on his elbow, could sup comfortably without rising.

“I should think he just is trying. Why, he is about the most disagreeable old man that it has ever been my ill fortune to meet. Why do you stay and put up with it? If I were in your place I should run away,” Dick said.

“Where should I run to? And who would take me in? A girl isn’t able to shift for herself and defy the world like a man. Besides, I don’t know how to do things properly. I can saw wood, do rough cooking, and such work, but nothing nicer, so no one would want me,” Nell responded wistfully.

“The stew is good, anyhow, if it is only rough cooking, and I suppose you could learn to do other things if you had the chance,” Dick went on, as he ate his supper with slow enjoyment, covertly studying Nell the while as she sat in the light of the fire.

“I can learn anything if only I get the chance. I’ve got an old dictionary upstairs, and I’ve taught myself to spell every word there is in it. I know I talk rough, but that is only because I haven’t had a chance of being with educated people and hearing how they sound their words.”

“A whole dictionary? Why, you must be a perfect prodigy of learning!” exclaimed Dick, smothering a laugh, as he looked at the thin girl in her shabby attire.

“That means something out of the ordinary course of nature,” she said quickly, evidently quoting from her much-studied dictionary. “No, I don’t think I’m out of the ordinary, only, you see, I do have such a lot of time to myself when granfer is working down beyond, that I just have to do something.”

“I see. Have you got any more books?” asked Dick, who was finding Nell decidedly interesting to talk to.

“Only a few. There is a Bible, an old geography with a great many leaves gone, Longfellow’s poetical works, and Bacon’s essays. I wanted some of father’s books, only granfer said they must be sold to pay for my board, so he let the schoolmaster have the lot for ten dollars.”

“What a shame!” There was a thrill of boyish indignation in Dick’s voice that brought a flush of pleasure to Nell’s thin cheek. Then he asked, “Are your father and mother dead?”

Nell nodded, rose abruptly from her seat, and going over to the opposite side of the fire, stooped down to do something to Pip. When she came back there was only a strained something in her tone to show that he had touched on a sore subject.

“Mother died ever so long ago, when I was only three years old. But I was eleven when father died, and I came up here to live with granfer.”

The door opened at this minute, and the old man came in, the water dripping from his garments, and his mood even more unpleasant than before.

But Dick Bronson, soothed by his supper and weak from his long fasting, fell asleep very soon, and so escaped the constant complaints of his unwilling host, who grumbled as long as he was awake, then, betaking himself to a hammock, snored loudly until the morning. Nell did not close her eyes, however, but, sitting on the floor of her loft, kept vigil from reasons best known to herself.

CHAPTER III
The Old Coat

THE next morning broke gloriously fine, and the brilliant sunshine put fresh vigour into Dick Bronson. He had spent a rather unrestful night, his slumber being often broken by hideous dreams.

He had even got off the settle and hobbled out into the sunshine, searching for some place where he might wash his face, before Nell descended the shaky ladder from her loft.

Doss Umpey was also up and out betimes, looking after his horse, which was stabled in a lean-to behind the wooden house. A sorry beast it was, with knock-knees, and a general air of being worn out, but it had energy enough to try to bite the old man when he endeavoured to put the bit in its mouth.

“Nell, Nell, come here; I want you,” the old man called, in querulous tones. And presently Nell came running round the corner of the house, in response to his call, looking jaded from her night of watching, but with an evident intention to be cheerful, and to keep the peace if she could.

“It is this old hoss again. I can’t think what has come to the creature; it shows its teeth every time I get near it,” he said, handing the bridle to Nell with an air of resignation.

“Want to bite, do you, Blossom? Oh, fie! you must not give way to tempers like these. Don’t you know that bits and bridles mean apples and bread to horses that are good?” she inquired, in coaxing tones, as she drew one hand out of her pocket, gave the horse a glimpse of something eatable in her palm, then dived it out of sight again.

Blossom became instantly docile, opened its mouth for the insertion of the bit, but without showing any desire to bite, then began nosing round Nell’s pockets, in anticipation of the coveted reward.

“You old varmint!” began Doss Umpey, with the evident intention of bestowing a kick on the obstinate old horse; but Nell stopped him with a quick