“I know what they are,” broke in John. “They are ‘yes’ and ‘no.’”
“That’s right,” replied Mr. Sanders with a smile. “They are the hardest words in the language for a good many people to use. When they say ‘yes’ they don’t say it in a way that means much, and when they say ‘no’ it doesn’t mean much more.
“His mother died years ago and I have always thought that this son was the cause of her death. At one time, as I told you, he was just as straight and attractive a boy as any of you.”
“I guess the trouble with him was that he wasn’t a Go Ahead boy,” suggested Fred.
“That was one trouble,” replied Mr. Sanders with a smile, “and another was that after he began to drift he couldn’t stop. You see if he hadn’t begun he never could have come to the end to which he has. That’s a strange thing to me that more people do not realize that if they don’t begin, they never will come to the end.”
“Did he explain to you,” inquired Fred, “why he shut me in the cellar of the old Meeker House?”
“No,” replied Mr. Sanders, “I didn’t know that you were shut in there.”
“Well, I was. He caught me in the cellar and bolted the door on me. I must have been in there an hour and a half.”
“How did you get out? Did he let you out?”
“No, sir, I went and pushed up the outside door.”