"That may be, but the boat is mine."
"Did he sell it to you?"
"No."
"Who are you, then?"
"I am Mr. Brandon, Grit's stepfather."
Phil whistled.
"Oh, it's you, is it?" he said, surveying Brandon, not over respectfully, for he knew where he had spent the last five years. "So you've come home?"
"Yes, but I might as well have stayed away."
"How is that?" asked Phil, regarding the man before him with curiosity.
Brandon was not too proud to speak of his domestic grievances, as he regarded them, to a stranger.