As he closed the door, a bright, handsome boy, strongly made, and bearing a resemblance to both father and mother, entered.
"Hallo, mother! Are you all right?" he asked.
"I hope so, Robert."
"You look serious, as if you were worrying over something."
"I was thinking of Mr. Wolverton. Your father has gone to pay him interest on the mortgage."
"Wolverton is a mean old hunks. He's got a nephew living with him, a boy about my age. He works him nearly to death, and I am sure the poor boy doesn't get half enough to eat."
"I was wishing your father didn't owe money to such a man."
"Oh, well, mother, there's no use in worrying. It's only three thousand dollars, and if we have a good crop next year, father will be able to pay off at least half of it. You can see we've got a splendid ranch, mother. There isn't another within twenty miles where the land is as rich."
"I shall be glad to see the day when the mortgage is wholly paid off, and we are out of debt."