The boys found Mrs. Barton on the look-out for them; and in answer to her question as to where they had been, they gave her an account of their conversation with Seth Stanley, only abstaining from mention of the Hermit's Cave.
"He is such a nice man," Theodore said in conclusion; "much nicer than our blacksmith at home!"
"I should not allow either of you to have anything to do with him if he was not," Mrs. Barton told them. "You know your father disapproves of the Blakes—both father and son. I will ask him what he thinks of this Seth Stanley, and hear what he has to say."
"I'm sure he's a good man, mother," Jack replied earnestly.
"I daresay he is, my dear. I think he must be, judging from what you have said. I saw him standing in his doorway when I passed there the other day, and I thought he looked an ideal village blacksmith."
[CHAPTER XIV.]
THEODORE HAS HIS OWN WAY.
"Do you know the Naraton blacksmith?" Mrs. Barton enquired of her husband, the morning following that on which the boys had spent an hour in Seth Stanley's company.
"Yes," he replied; "but why do you ask? He is a powerful-looking fellow, with a dark, grave face. I am informed he is as honest as the day—a somewhat unusual characteristic for one of his class. He is a gipsy."
"So Theodore and Jack said. They held quite a long conversation with him yesterday, during which he seems to have related his family history to them," and Mrs. Barton repeated all the boys had told her.