"We'll not discuss that now. Will you have a cigar before dinner?"
"I never smoke. It's a dangerous and expensive habit."
"Slightly dangerous, perhaps, but I smoke very little. As for the expense, I think I can afford it. This has been quite a prosperous year for me—and Dick."
"What you spend for cigars would pay the interest on a large loan," went on Mr. Larabee.
"Yes, but I don't need the loan," declared Mr. Hamilton with a smile, "and I do feel that I need a cigar to rest me after my day's work. However, I don't advocate tobacco for young men, and Dick has promised not to smoke until he is of age, and that will not be for a few years yet."
"Stuff and nonsense!" exclaimed Uncle Ezra, as he could thing of nothing else to say.
"Perhaps you'd like a glass of lemonade before dinner," suggested Dick.
"No," replied the austere man. "I don't think I'll stop for dinner. My visit here has resulted in no good, and the sooner I get back home the better. Besides I've got a new hired man, and I'm almost certain he'll set the barn afire; he's so careless."
"Oh, I hope not, Ezra," said Mr. Hamilton.
"So do I, but I'd be nervous all night and I wouldn't sleep. Then I might get sick, and have to pay out money for a doctor, or some medicine. No; I'll take the late train home."