"I didn't care to live; but now, since you have come, things look different."
Both ate heartily, and when the dinner was over, the old man moved back his chair and breathed a sigh of content.
"It is the best meal I have tasted for years," he said.
"Your nephew ought to have stayed to dinner," said Gerald, smiling.
"I hope I shall never see him again; he is a very bad man."
"He won't dare to come back to this settlement. He had to run the gauntlet, and he was lucky to escape with his life. Now, let me show you the other rooms."
There were two other rooms, each provided with a comfortable bed. In the smaller one Gerald put his gripsack, and, unpacking his clothes, laid them away in the drawers of a small bureau.
"Where are your clothes, Mr. Nixon?" he asked.
The old man looked embarrassed.
"I have very few," he said, "and those are about worn out."