He was so mad he could get no further.
"There is the front door," went on the boy, walking forward and opening it. "The best thing you can do is to get on the other side of it just as quick as you can."
The squire was livid. He wanted to say something awful, something that would crush the fearless lad before him—but the words would not come. He caught up his silk hat and waved it fiercely in the face of Ralph and his mother.
"You'll rue this, both of you! Mark my words!" he fairly hissed, and the next moment he had disappeared into the darkness of the night.
CHAPTER XXII.
RALPH'S NEW SITUATION.
After the squire had vanished Ralph closed the front door and locked it. He returned to the sitting-room to find his mother pale and trembling. Unable to stand, the poor woman had sunk back on the lounge.
"Oh, Ralph!" was all she could say just then.