"True, but there is many an accident happens to a boy that is knocking around like him."
"Mr. Talbot, do you wish any harm to befall my son?" demanded the lady of the house, half angrily.
"Oh, no, of course not. But in knocking around he is taking a big risk, you must admit that."
At these words Mrs. Talbot's face became a study and she left her husband without another word.
"I really believe he wishes Robert out of the way," she thought. "Then the money would be mine, and he would try to get me to leave it to him."
Left to himself James Talbot walked up and down in moody contemplation.
"Here's a nice mess," he muttered. "I thought the whole estate belonged to her. If she died to-morrow I would be turned out without a cent and that boy or his guardian would take sole possession. I half wish I could get him out of my way for good, I really do." And then he began to speculate upon how such a dark deed could be accomplished.
CHAPTER XV.