"If you mean, am I going to take your word for that—frankly, I am not."
He flung the door open and strode out.
Stanistreet followed him.
"I think, Tyson," said he, "if I want to catch that early train to-morrow, I'd better take my things over to 'The Cross-Roads' to-night."
"Just as you like."
So Stanistreet betook himself to "The Cross-Roads."
CHAPTER IX
AN UNNATURAL MOTHER
Next morning a rumor set out from three distinct centers, Thorneytoft, Meriden, and "The Cross-Roads," to the effect that Tyson had quarreled seriously with Stanistreet. His wife, as might be imagined, was the cause. After a hot dispute, in which her name had been rather freely bandied about, it seems that Tyson had picked the Captain up by the scruff of the neck and tumbled him out of the house.