"There is one thing that I would like to speak of," added Mr. Ellis; and Clyde thought that his face suddenly became whiter, and that his fingers twitched even more nervously than before. "May I sit down?"
"Why, certainly," replied the boy, amazed at this mark of politeness. "Excuse me for not offering you a chair. Take this rocker."
And he dragged up his favorite chair and offered it to his guardian with a bow.
Mr. Ellis accepted it.
"You made some reference when I was in here—in here before," continued the latter, "to a certain ten thousand dollars. Will you tell me what you meant?"
It was Clyde's turn now to become nervous. He would have liked to have escaped that, but he was in for it now.
"I—I didn't mean to say what I did," he pleaded.
"Yes, but you did say it, and I would like to have it explained."
And Mr. Ellis clutched the arm of his chair with his right hand, and hung on to it, while he tried to push the chair into a gentle rock with one of his feet.
Clyde looked his uncle straight in the eye. The latter avoided the glance, and turned his attention to the floor.