"That's what I call cool," exclaimed her nephew.
"It is Dick is the cause of it all. You know you are, and you ought to be ashamed of yourself," she added, turning to the boy.
"That's right, go right against me; you always do," howled Dick Ferris, "There ain't no use for me to stay here any longer."
And he marched out of the front door, and down the street to his favorite hanging-out place, the corner pool-room.
Mrs. Ricket was profuse in her apologies to Hal after Ferris had gone.
"He's a good enough boy," she said. "But he has got into bad company, and I can't do anything with him."
"Aren't his parents living?" asked Hal.
"Only his father, and he is a sea captain and ain't home more than three or four times a year. I wish he would take Dick along with him some time, it might do him good."
"So it might," replied Hal. "By the way, Mrs. Ricket, do you know a man by the name of Hardwick?"
"The book-keeper for the firm where Dick used to work?"