"Well, if you must know, I will tell you—so that Mrs. Talbot may not get into trouble over it. Your townpeople treated me so shabbily that I called upon your wife for a small loan, so that I might get back to Chicago."
"Humph! Then Robert didn't send you to see her?"
"No, Robert knew nothing about my going to Granville."
"I thought you and he were great friends?"
"So we are, but he didn't know where I was going when we separated."
"A likely story," sneered James Talbot. "I believe that boy sent you to my wife with a message."
"You can think as you please," cried Palmer hotly. "I have told you the plain truth. But I guess Robert will have to send a private messenger, since his letters don't reach his mother."
The shot told, and James Talbot grew pale for the moment. Then he recovered himself.
"I won't stand any of your slurs, young man. I reckon you are no better than Robert."