"No," said Joshua; "he can't come."
"I didn't authorize you to speak for me," said Walter, quietly.
"You didn't authorize me to speak for you?" repeated Joshua, in a mocking tone. "Big words for a beggar!"
"What do you mean by calling me a beggar?" demanded Walter, quietly, but with rising color.
"I don't choose to give you any explanation," said Joshua, scornfully. "You're only my father's hired boy, working for your board."
"That may be true, but I am not a beggar, and I advise you not to call me one again."
Walter's tone was still quiet, and Joshua wholly misunderstood him; otherwise, being a coward at heart, he would have desisted.
"I'll say it as often as I please," he repeated. "You're a beggar, and if we hadn't taken pity on you, you'd have had to go to the poor-house."
Walter was not quarrelsome; but this last insult, in presence of half-a-dozen boys between his own age and Joshua's, roused him.