“It is a mean thing,” laughed Robert as he stooped down and picked it up, “to examine a letter not intended for me, but he is such a scamp that I’ll do it in this case, hoping to learn something that will help me find this poor boy.”
And so, without any compunctions, Robert took the letter—which had been opened—into his room and read, with feelings which may possibly be imagined, the following letter:
“DEAR SIR: I feel oblidged to rite to you about the boy I
took from you. You told me he would work enough to pay for
his keep, and did not want to pay me anything for my
trubble. Now, Mr. Waldo, you are mistaken. The boy ain’t
tuff nor strong, and I can’t got more’n half as much work
out of him as I ought. He don’t eat much, I kno, but the
fact is I need a good strong boy, and I shall have to git
another, and have two to feed, if things go on so.