Neither spoke for a few minutes; then Dudley said,

"I should have been your murderer if you had died. That has been the
worst of it. But you did like saving a drowning fellow, didn't you?"

"Ye-es, but it wasn't quite real--at least it isn't as if you really had
tumbled in by accident."

"Well but I only did what you said we must do. I made an opportunity."

And after this remark Roy had nothing more to say; but neither he nor
Dudley ever enlightened any one as to the true cause of the accident.

When Roy had quite recovered, the two boys set out one afternoon to
visit their greatest friend in the village. This was the old man every
one called "old Principle." He lived by himself in a curious
three-cornered house at the extreme end of the village, and kept a
little general shop where everything but eatables could be obtained.

"I keep every article that man, woman, or child can want for their use,
for their homes, their work or their play; but food and drink I will not
cater for. It's against my principles to sell perishable goods, and I
will not be the one to minister to the very lowest animal wants of my
fellow creatures."

This was his favorite speech, from which it may be judged he was
somewhat of a character.

He had several hobbies, and was a well-read man and superior to those
around him; and perhaps this was the cause of his holding himself aloof