"Then I think that is enough. In one sense it is certainly deceiving them not to tell them, but I think it is the lesser of two evils. It would do little or no good to tell your good old parents. It would only grieve them as much as it would amaze them. You can pay back what you owe your parents in love and kindness as well as in money. Don't you think so?"
Will thought so and he made up his mind to try.
It became a matter of comment among the neighbors the way Will Young, whom they were inclined to look at sceptically since "he went East to college," was pitching in and working harder than any hired man on his father's place and, what was more surprising, seeming to enjoy it; they did not know quite what to make of it. He was paying back the $200.
It surprised his father also and pleased him, and so did Will's respectful manner and his simple boyish endeavors to carry out all his wishes. He was trying to pay back the other debt also.
When the fall came again Mr. Young hated more than ever to have him leave, but this time, as he told Will's mother, he would fix it, he guessed, so Will wouldn't have to work himself to a skeleton.
CHAPTER XV
THE END OF IT
"Hello, here comes Deacon Young with a brand new orange-and-black blazer on!"
"Yea-a-a," interrupted one fellow in a loud, shrill voice, and the others all joined in and yelled, "Yea-a, Deacon!" and ran at him and pounded him on the shoulders, jumped on his back and made other signs of pleasure at seeing a classmate once more, while they asked him what kind of a vacation he had had, and told him he looked as though he had been training for football all summer. Will laughed and told how he had trained.