“Yes, I gave them a treat to-night as it’s my birthday. I would have gone among them myself, only I felt very much upset by the wild behaviour of my only son Robert.”
“Exactly, and it’s about him that I have come so far out of my way, in order to inform you of him, and to warn you.”
“Warn me!” said the farmer, suddenly changing colour, and with looks of distrust at the stranger’s uneasiness of voice and manner.
“You have had a quarrel with him to-day, and slammed the door in his face.”
“I did. Who told you?” the old man asked. “No one but him and I were present.”
“I overheard him say as much to another in a whispered conversation.”
“Indeed!”
“Yes; he knows that you have a large sum of money in the house, and is determined to rob you of it, and then run off with the slut he calls his sweetheart.”
“Rob me! his own father!”
“It is as true as gospel. That I am correct is plain, or how could I have learned so much of his and your affairs unless I overheard him?”