"Brandon would like to leave Waterford, but I don't believe he wants to work. It is all the better for me."
"I don't believe in boys being idle, but there's no call for Brandon Bates to work if he don't want to. The squire's rich enough."
And then the carpenter's brow contracted in perplexity. He couldn't understand why a rich man should take what did not belong to him, and he had never got over the impression made on him on the day of the robbery by the long tusk-like teeth of the masked figure.
"Father," said Mrs. Dunham anxiously, "do you think it's safe for a boy as young as Dean to go out into the world alone? He's only a child."
"I'm almost sixteen, aunt," said Dean mortified.
"But you don't know nothin' of the world."
"Neither do you or I, wife, though we're both risin' sixty. Dean has got to take his chances. I hope this Kirby's a likely man. What does he look like, Dean?"
"Well, I don't fancy his appearance much," Dean admitted. "He is very dark and sallow, and there's something queer about the eyes. But I suppose he can't help his looks."
"Handsome is that handsome does," replied Mrs. Dunham. "I've heard tell that villains is sometimes very scrumptious in appearance."
"I guess he's all right, aunt. He didn't make himself, you know."