"Excuse me, Mr. Drummond, but I don't like tale-bearing. I did the only thing I could."
"Ahem!" said Mr. Drummond, "you were too violent. I would suggest that you should each beg the other's pardon, shake hands, and have done with it."
"Catch me begging pardon of my father's hired boy!" exclaimed Joshua scornfully. "I haven't got quite so low as that."
"As for me," said Walter, "if I thought I had been in the wrong, I would beg Joshua's pardon without any hesitation. I am not too proud for that, but I think I acted right under the circumstances, and therefore I cannot do it. As for being a hired boy, I admit that such is my position, and I don't see anything to be ashamed of in it."
"You are right there," said Mr. Drummond; for this assertion chimed in with his own views and wishes. "Well, it seems to me you are about even, and you may as well drop the quarrel here."
"I am ready to do so," said Walter, promptly. "If Joshua treats me well, I will treat him well."
"You're mighty accommodating," sneered Joshua. "You seem to think you're on an equality with me."
"I am willing to treat you as an equal," answered Walter, purposely misinterpreting Joshua's remark.
"Oh, you are, are you?" retorted Joshua, with a vicious snap of the eyes. "Do you think you, a hired boy, are equal to me, who am a gentleman?"
"I am glad to hear that you consider yourself a gentleman, and hope you will take care to act like one."