"You think so?" Mr Louden grunted. "I suppose it might wipe out a good deal with some people. How'd you happen to stop off at Canaan? On your way somewhere, I suppose."
"No, I've come back to stay."
Mr. Louden plainly received this as no pleasant surprise. "What for?" he asked, slowly.
"To practise law, father."
"What!"
"Yes," said the young man. "There ought to be an opening here for me. I'm a graduate of as good a law-school as there is in the country—"
"You are!"
"Certainly," said Joe, quietly. "I've put myself through, working in the summer—"
"Working!" Mr. Louden snorted. "Side-shows?"
"Oh, worse than that, sometimes," returned his son, laughing. "Anything I could get. But I've always wanted to come back home and work here."