“I rank a minister higher than a deacon,” retorted Guy, quietly.
“You do, hey? Why, my father could buy out your father two or three times over.”
“That may be; but what does that prove?”
“It proves that you’d better be careful how you talk. I heard my father say the other day that the people wanted a new minister—a young man that would make things lively. I shouldn’t wonder if your father’d have to take a walk before long.”
“And I am certain that you’ll have to walk pretty fast if you don’t want to feel the force of my fists.”
Guy advanced toward Noah so menacingly that the latter took counsel of prudence and retreated hastily.
“Keep away from me, you bully!” he cried, “or I’ll tell my father!”
Guy laughed, and walked away, not caring to have any difficulty with Noah. What the deacon’s son had said, however, furnished him food for reflection.
Things began to look serious. There was evidently a movement on foot to get rid of his father, and this movement was headed by Deacon Crane, a man of influence in the parish and the town.
“If I could only get hold of this treasure, say within a year,” thought Guy, “I would snap my fingers at the deacon. It would make me rich, and if I were rich my father would be rich, too, and independent of the parish.”