"My uncle's friend did what he considered most useful in helping me come to a country that interested me," said Jim coldly. "He is a big business man. Stick to a subject you understand."
"I didn't mean to say anything to fuss ye up," returned Melchior hastily. "I was only sayin'—but I guess him an' you didn't know how things are done in this country, or he wouldn't of suggested you invest any money in any business of my old man's, or he wouldn't of sent you to Millbrook to learn it. But you won't learn it, not the way I size ye up."
"What's wrong with the business?" asked Jim anxiously.
"You keep yer eye skinned an' I reckon ye'll know soon enough; an' I reckon that's as much as I got any right to say," answered Melchior. "But I'll tell ye this much more, Jim. I wish ye'd keep a holt on yer money till you take a good look 'round. There are plenty better buys in this country than a chance to sweat yer everlastin' life out for Amos Hammond."
Jim was surprised and distressed by Melchior's talk. It startled him to hear a son talk so of a father; and yet he believed the son to be wise in his generation. He held no brief for the father. The high, bitterly high, moral tone of the trader's conversation had not fooled the youth from the South for a minute.
That night and the next day and the next night passed without any incident of startling significance in the Hammond household. On the morning of the second day after young Todhunter's arrival, there was a flare-up at breakfast between Hammond and his son.
"I'm goin' out Kingswood way to-day, an' you come along with me, Mel," said Hammond.
"I gotter tend store," returned Melchior, sullenly.
"No, you ain't. James can tend store by himself to-day, an' Alice will lend him a hand if business is rushin', which ain't likely."
"There's a man comin' to see me about tradin' rifles to-day."