“You're stronger'n I be, Mrs. B.”
“Perhaps you'll find I am if you don't go to work.”
“I'll do it this afternoon.”
“All right. Then we'll have dinner in the even-in'. No wood, no dinner.”
“Seems to me you're rather hard on me, Mrs. B. I don't feel well.”
“Nor you won't till you give up drinkin'.”
Much against his will, Mr. Barton felt compelled by the stress of circumstances to do the work expected of him. It made him feel angry with Abner, whom he did not miss for any other reason.
“I'll break that boy's neck when he comes back,” he muttered. “It's a shame to leave all this work for his poor, old dad.”
To-morrow came, but the boys did not. A week slipped away, and still they were missing. Mrs. Barton was not an affectionate mother, but it did seem lonesome without Abner. As for Herbert, she did not care for his absence. If Willis Ford did not continue to pay his board, she felt that she would rather have him away.
On the sixth day after the departure of the boys there came a surprise for Mrs. Barton.