CHAPTER VI.
ENCOMPASSED.
"He looks scared out of last year's growth," remarked Podge Byerly when Duff Salter came down-stairs next day.
"Happy for him, dear, he is not able to hear what is around him in this place!" exclaimed Agnes aloud.
They always talked freely before their guest, and he could scarcely be alarmed even by an explosion.
Duff wrote on his tablets during breakfast:
"I must employ a smart man to do errands for me, and rid me of some of the burdens of this deafness. Do you know of any one?"
"A mere laborer?" inquired Agnes.
"Well, an old-fashioned, still-mouthed fellow like myself—one who can understand my dumb motions."