"Here it is."
"I will read it. That will be the shortest way of getting at what you wish to consult me about. After I have read it, I will ask any questions that seem needful. But first we will come in."
They entered the court-house, and went into a room to the left, where they found seats. Squire Selwyn put on his spectacles, and read the letter slowly and deliberately.
"You are in a difficult position, John," he said, when he had finished reading. "You are very unpleasantly situated, I should judge."
"Very, sir."
"And this Mr. Huxter doesn't seem a very agreeable man to have dealings with?"
"I should be very unhappy if I expected to be obliged to stay with him."
"You say he is intemperate?"
"He drank several times on his way back in the stage, and the boy with whom I rode over says he has been intemperate for years."
"Certainly he is not a fit person to have charge of you. Does he know that you have come over here to-day?"