"The new boat you speak of belongs to Bob," interrupted the lawyer, who knew he was going to listen to a lie. "It is moored back of old Ben Watson's place."
"Why—why, what has he got it there for?" asked Mr. Layton. "The schooner doesn't belong to Bob."
"Yes, I think it does, together with his ponies also. I came up here to speak about them," said Mr. Gibbons, when he noticed Mr. Layton changing color.
"Well, Gus has taken quite a fancy to those ponies, and I think it best to keep them for him," replied Mr. Layton. "Anything else he wants he can take. I don't believe in being hard on the boy, for goodness knows he has enough to contend with. If he is so awfully bent on having those ponies I will purchase them."
"Bob is not bent on having anything but what is his by right," said the lawyer, drawing a copy of the will from his pocket. "The ponies were the last things his father gave him, and he went off to school and never saw his father afterward. It won't do for you to buy them. Bob wants the ponies, and nothing else."
"Well, of course if you put it that way he'll have to have them," said Mr. Layton, who did not want to hear the codicil read. He touched a little bell that stood on the table and went to the door to meet Sam. "Go to the stable and tell the hostler to hitch up the ponies. Will you have the covered buggy or the dog-cart?" he added, turning to the lawyer.
"I will take them both. Bob wants everything that belongs to him."
Mr. Layton gave the necessary order, and then came back and plumped into his chair. He was trembling, but he was mad, too.
"It seems to me that this is a very queer will," said he. "What did he bequeath all Bob's things to my son for, and then go to work and take them away?"
"I have the authority for doing it right here," said Mr. Gibbons, tapping the will as he spoke. "Do you want to hear it read?"