“He won’t use any feed,” Jim pointed out. “Just grass.”
“In the winter there is snow covering the grass,” said the older man dryly.
“I’ll earn money this summer to feed him through the winter!” declared Jim confidently. “Besides, I already have three dollars.”
He reached in his pocket to make certain he still had his precious three dollars. His hand found the fifteen that Colonel Flesher had paid for the calf. In the excitement he had forgotten to give the money to his father.
“Here’s the fifteen dollars Colonel Flesher gave me for the calf.”
Mr. Meadows pocketed the money. “It’s a good thing he didn’t come before the horse trader, or you probably would have thrown in the fifteen dollars with the watch.”
“I would not,” said Jim bitterly. He was now even more hurt than before. “The money wasn’t mine but the watch was. You gave it to me.”
Everything seemed to mount up in Jim’s mind. He had felt like shedding tears several times since his family’s return, but he was no crybaby and had held them back. Now once again he began to choke up dangerously; so he started to leave the room.
Mr. Meadows began to be somewhat sorry about his last words. He realized that in his anger he had spoken rather hastily, and he saw his son was deeply hurt.
“I’m sorry, Jim,” he said finally and rather awkwardly. “I shouldn’t have said that. I know you would never be dishonest or trade off anything that didn’t belong to you. I did give you the watch and it was your property. It’s just that I attached a lot of sentiment to the watch and thought you would too.”