When Mr. Brigham saw that Lester took to staying in the house, and that he had suddenly lost all interest in hunting and shooting, his suspicions were aroused. He always kept his ears open when he went to the landing, and by putting together the disjointed scraps of conversation he overheard while he was waiting for his mail, he finally accumulated a mass of evidence against his son Lester that fairly staggered him.
“I couldn’t believe this of you until I went to Gordon and asked him what he knew about it,” continued Mr. Brigham. “Then the whole story came out. Lester, you will have to go away from here.”
“That’s just what I want to do,” exclaimed the boy, in joyous tones. “I never did like this place. It is awful lonely and dull, and there is no one for me to associate with. If I could only go off somewhere on a visit——”
“As I told you, at the start, I have got things fixed for you for four years to come,” said Mr. Brigham. “You ought to have something to do—something that will occupy your mind so completely that you will have no time to be discontented or to think of anything wrong. I have decided to send you to school; and I am sorry I didn’t do it long ago.”
When Lester heard this he threw his cap spitefully down upon the floor, planted his elbow viciously upon the arm of the lounge, and looked very sullen indeed. School-rooms and school-books were his pet aversions.
“I don’t want you to do that,” said he, angrily. “I would much rather stay here.”
“Do you want to grow up in ignorance?” demanded his father.
If Lester had given an honest response to this question it would have been: “No, I don’t want to grow up in ignorance, but I do want to live at my ease. I desire to go to some place where I can find plenty to amuse me, and where I shall have no labor to perform, either mental or manual.” But he did not quite like to say that, and so he said nothing.
“You don’t know a single thing that a boy of your age ought to know,” continued Mr. Brigham. “I have just had a long conversation with Gordon and his two boys.”
Lester looked up with a startled expression on his face. “You haven’t determined to send me to Bridgeport, have you?” he exclaimed.