After a while the squire spoke again.
"Your father might let you have the money," he suggested.
"My father has no money to spare," said Tom quickly.
"Couldn't he raise some?"
"I don't know how."
"Then I'll tell you. I hold a mortgage for two thousand dollars on his farm. I suppose you know that?"
"Yes, sir."
"I might be willing to increase the mortgage to twenty-two hundred, and he could lend you the extra two hundred."
This was a new idea to Tom, and he took a little time to think it over.
"I don't like to ask father to do that," he said. "He finds it very hard now to pay the interest on the mortgage."