"You never see me doin' it, sir!" said Phil, answering the most interesting part of Mr. Linden's address.
"Don't I?" said Mr. Linden,—"I see and hear a good many things. But nobody can get on in the world after such a prickly fashion,—why even a porcupine smooths himself down before he tries to go ahead. If you were to be a lawyer Phil, you'd fight your clients instead of helping them fight,—and if you were a farmer, you'd be like the man who burnt up three stacks of his hay because the fourth got wet."
Phil reddened, though he couldn't help smiling, and was evidently getting angry.
"That 'ere farmer was a big fool!" he said.
"Yes, we are agreed upon that point," said Mr. Linden,—"I daresay he would have said so himself next day. Well Phil—this was not what I wanted to talk to you about to-day—much as I like to see smart boys make the most of themselves. I want to know exactly what it was that you heard Reuben Taylor say about Miss Derrick."
Phil's eyes opened unmistakeably.
"I never heerd him say nothing about her!" he said boldly.
"Then why did you say you did?" said Mr. Linden, with the cool face of one who knows his ground.
"I didn't!" said Phil. "I'm blessed if I did."
"No you are not—" said Mr. Linden gravely,—"people are never blessed who do not speak truth. And you have shut both doors by which such a blessing might have come in this case, Phil."