Master Hinchford laughed from within.
"Oh, no!—I don't fret."
"P'raps some day I shall have saved up enuf to pay him back. That's a rum idea, isn't it, sir?"
"Not a bad one, Mattie. Think it over."
"Yes, sir."
Mattie departed, and Mr. Hinchford returned to the sitting-room. Master Hinchford, buried in books, was sitting at the centre table.
"Are you going at figures to-night?"
"Just for a little while, I think."
"You'll ruin your eyes—I've said so fifty times."
"Better have weak eyes than weak brains, sir."