not reproach him for having been so careless. He might not seem to care
very much, but he would be terribly disappointed; that was the worst of
it all, next to owing money that he had no hope of paying. Indeed, he
hardly knew which hurt him more than the other, for the disgrace of
debt, as he called it, was all his own, but the bitter disappointment
was on Newton too.

The latter listened in silence till his father had finished, and his
boyish face was preternaturally thoughtful.

"I've seen boys make just such mistakes at the blackboard," he observed
in a tone of melancholy reflection. "And they generally catch it
afterwards too," he added. "It's natural."

"I've 'caught it,'" Overholt answered. "You have too, my dear boy,
though you didn't make the mistake--that's not just."

"Well, father, I don't know what we're going to do, but something has
got to be done right away, and we've got to find out what it is."

"Thank goodness you're not a girl!" cried Overholt fervently.

"I'm glad too; only, if I were one, I should most likely die young and
go to heaven, and you'd have me off your mind all right. The girls
always do in storybooks."

He made this startling and general observation quite naturally. Of
course girls died and went to heaven when there was nothing to eat; he
secretly thought it would be better if more of them did, even without
starvation.