"That's nice. Grace Knox is calling on me. You met her, I believe."
"Yes, but, Miss Gertrude, is your mother in? I called partly on business."
"She is in, but she has a caller now. Professor Callum is in the parlor." The boys could hear the rumbling of his crabbed voice.
"Then I'm too late!" said Frank quickly.
"Too late? What do you mean?" asked Gertrude.
"I heard him talking to one of the other teachers to-day," said Frank, "and I guessed that he was coming here. I want to tell your mother that I'm going to have my father take up the matter of the bonds or stocks at once. I know he can get her some money for them so she won't have to worry any more about not being able to pay Old Thorn—I mean Mr. Callum. I hurried here hoping to get ahead of him, so she wouldn't be insulted by him. She could tell him that arrangements were being made to sell the bonds."
"But are you sure of this?" asked Gertrude, a look of hope coming into her face. "We have been so often disappointed, though we are sure the bonds are perfectly good. I would not want to raise false hopes."
"I am sure the bonds are good!" agreed Frank, "and I am sure we can get money for them. Andy and I know something about finance."
"That's right," said the younger brother with a wise nod of his head.
"Oh, I'm so glad!" exclaimed the girl. "I'll tell mamma at once. I wish you had gotten here before he did," and she nodded in the direction of the parlor, "as I know mamma is very much distressed about the matter, and this interview is sure to give her a headache. Mr. Callum, in his usual rough way, made a demand for the money at once. He even threatened to sell our little home if we didn't pay. I'm going to see if I can get a chance to tell mamma. Come in, I'll take you to Grace, and she can entertain you until I come back."