"What do you mean?" demanded Halbert, haughtily. "You seem to forget that you are a beggar, or next to it."
Robert set down his pails, and, opening his coat, drew out a handful of bills.
"Does that look like going to the almshouse?" he said.
"They're not yours," returned Halbert, considerably astonished, for, though he did not know the denomination of the bills, it was evident that there was a considerable amount of money.
"It belongs to me, every dollar of it," returned Robert.
"I don't believe it. Where did you get it? Picking berries, I suppose," he added, with a sneer.
"It makes no difference to you where I got it," said our hero, returning the money to his pocket. "I shan't go to the almshouse till this I is all gone."
"He must have stolen it," muttered Halbert, looking after Robert with disappointment and chagrin. It was certainly very vexatious that, in spite of all his attempts to humble and ruin our hero, he seemed more prosperous than ever.
CHAPTER XVIII.
A VISIT TO THE LAWYER.
Mrs. Rushton was braiding straw when Robert entered with his berries.