Rodney walked away abruptly. All his pride in his watch had gone. He hurried back to the farm, and told his mother the astounding news.
“Ma,” he said, “you must buy me a nicer watch. I don’t want that farm boy to beat me.”
Mrs. Bartlett would not at first believe that Rodney’s story was correct. When convinced, she would not accede to her son s request.
“A sixty-dollar watch is good enough for a boy of your age,” she said. “Grant Colburn will come to the poorhouse if he spends money like that. If pa were living he could claim the guardianship of the boy and take care of his money. Do you know how much he has got?”
“He didn’t tell me.”
“It isn’t likely he has as much as you. I hear his mother is going to be housekeeper for Mr. Wilkins.”
But later in the day Mrs. Bartlett learned that this was a mistake. She was very much worried about Grant’s plans, and anxious to learn how much money he had.
Meanwhile Grant called on the proprietor of their old home and bought it for eighteen hundred dollars, only paying five hundred down, for he could get much better interest for his money in San Francisco, and could well afford to pay six per cent, interest on the balance. He bought the house just as it stood—furniture and all—as his mother had originally sold it. If the price of the property seems small, it must be remembered that Woodburn was a country village.
There was another surprise in store for the Bartletts.
On the day when the mortgage on the Jones place came due, Mrs. Bartlett, accompanied by her lawyer, called at the farm.