"That's jest what I count on doin', an' if you've got any sense you'll keep away from me."
Bill shook his fist threateningly as near Jack's nose as he thought prudent, and disappeared among the bushes, leaving the hunchback decidedly disturbed in mind despite the bold front he had assumed.
"Them fellers can make it hot for me, of course," he said to himself when the bully had gone, "an' I expect I shall catch it rough, but almost anything is better than leavin' here after Aunt Nancy has fixed it so nice with Farmer Pratt."
He worked more rapidly after receiving this second warning, and returned to the house by the main road instead of going around past the frog pond.
The little woman was under the old oak making Louis's new garments when he arrived, and she saw at once by the troubled expression on his face that something had gone wrong.
"What's the matter, Jack dear?" she asked kindly.
"Matter? I guess I don't know what you mean."
"Indeed you do, so now tell Aunt Nancy all about it. Have you seen that Dean boy again to-day?"
Jack was forced to confess he had, and in a few moments the little woman succeeded in learning the whole story.
She insisted that it was necessary for her to see Bill's father at once; but the hunchback begged her not to do anything of the kind, and she apparently abandoned the idea.