"Have you been alone since morning?"

"Not quite all the time. I had quite a long call from a stranger."

"A stranger!" repeated Luke, suspiciously.

"What was his appearance?"

The old man described Burns, and Luke knew him at once.

"What did he say to you?"

"That reminds me--he said he knew the boy whom Horace has put in the store--young Ray."

"Did he?"

"Yes, and he doesn't speak well of him."

"What does he say about him?"