"Mr. Rimmon has failed!" said Sammy, who had heard enough of his brother's question to reply. "They say his accounts at the post office are short, and that he has gone off with all of the money he could get hold of. He has beat Johnson Jewett out of two thousand dollars."
"Hold on, Sam Lewis! That can't be true!"
"It is; everybody says so."
"It seems to me, my son, that we have enough to think of at home without troubling ourselves about Mr. Rimmon, or any one else."
"So we have, mother, but Mr. Rimmon's troubles concern us. At least, I have depended on his help to meet these enemies of ours. I am at a loss to know who could have sent that message, but I am sure no harm will come of it."
"Why should they say you were dead, Dix?"
"It's all a mystery, mother, and I will confess that the worst part of it is, I don't seem near to a solution."
"What shall we do?"
"There is but one thing we can do, mother; and that is to keep our eyes and ears open, and go along about our business."
"I should feel better if your father was in a different state of mind."