Grant’s face darkened. He knew very well that the money never would be repaid, and he penetrated the crafty design of his step-father.
“No, Mr. Tarbox,” he said. “My mother’s money must not be touched. There’s little enough of it, and I don’t want her to run the risk of losing it.”
“But she won’t lose it. Didn’t I say I would pay it back?”
“Why can’t you advance the money yourself?”
“Didn’t I tell you money was skerce?” said Seth Tarbox irritably.
“I know you’ve got money in two savings banks, besides some railroad bonds. Tom Wilson told me the other day that you had over five thousand dollars in money and bonds.”
“Tom Wilson don’t know anything about my affairs,” said Tarbox hastily. “I’ll think it over, Grant, and mebbe—I won’t promise—I’ll see what I can do for you. Now we’ll go to work. It’s a sin to be idle.”
CHAPTER II.
RODNEY BARTLETT.
Mr. Tarbox’s farm was located in Woodburn, rather a small town in Iowa. He was originally from Connecticut, but at the age of thirty removed to the then frontier Western State. He owned a large farm, which he had bought at the government price of one dollar and a quarter an acre. He also owned a smaller farm a mile and a half west of the one he occupied, and this he cultivated on shares. It had been a lucky purchase, for a railway intersected it, and he had obtained a large price for the land used. Besides his two farms, he had from six to seven thousand dollars in money; yet it seemed that the richer he grew the meaner he became. He had a married daughter, living in Crestville, six miles away, and when he died she and her family would no doubt inherit the miserly farmer’s possessions. Like her father she was selfish and close so far as others were concerned, but she was willing to spend money on herself. She had a son about the age of Grant, who liked to wear good clothes, and was something of a dude. His name was Rodney Bartlett, and he looked down with infinite contempt on his grandfather’s hard-working stepson.
Just before twelve o’clock a smart looking buggy drove into the yard. The occupants of the buggy were Rodney and his mother.