Mrs. Brent eyed the young gardener with cold animosity.

“You have been impudent to Master Philip,” she said. “Of course you cannot remain any longer in his father's employment. Here are five dollars—more than is due you. Take it, and leave the estate.”

“I won't take your money, Mrs. Brent,” said Dan independently, “and I won't take my dismissal from any one but Mr. Granville himself.”

“Do you defy me, then?” said Mrs. Brent, with a firmer compression of her lips.

“No, Mrs. Brent, I don't defy you, but you have nothing to do with me, and I shall not take any orders or any dismissal from you.”

“Don't be impertinent to my——” burst forth from Jonas, and then he stopped in confusion.

“To your—what?” asked Dan quickly.

“To my—nurse,” faltered Jonas.

Dan looked suspiciously from one to the other.

“There's something between those two,” he said to himself. “Something we don't know of.”