"It is too bad, Mrs. Nelson," he said. "But I have, I am afraid, very bad news for you."
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE SQUIRE IN HOT WATER.
As the reader well knows, there was no love lost between Squire Paget and the Nelsons. The squire had not treated Ralph and his mother fairly, and they were inclined to look upon him with considerable distrust.
Yet when the squire entered the cottage with the announcement that he had bad news to convey, the widow forgot all the past and began to question him eagerly.
"You have bad news?" she faltered.
"I am sorry to say I have," he returned, in a hypocritical tone of sympathy.
"And what is it?" she went on, her breast heaving violently.