"To come again. I'd like to keep Bob Charnock up, but guess it's
dangerous. Owes me a pile. How does he stand with you?"

Keller supplied the information, and the other looked thoughtful.
"Didn't know it was quite so bad as that. I allow I'd better not let him
have the goods."

"Well, I reckon he's trying the new man at Concord. Smith said he met
him there yesterday."

The dealer frowned. He hated to think of a customer going to somebody
else. In fact, this was, for a debtor, an unpardonable offense.

"Charnock's trouble is that he's not quite straight. Ought to have
stayed with me, told me how he was fixed, and let me see what I could
do. If he's going to deal with the new man, I'd better pull him up and
try to get my money back."

"You can't get it," said Keller dryly. "He can't pay now, and if you let
him go on until harvest, you'll have a crowd of others with long bills
fighting for what's left."

"Looks like that," the dealer agreed. "Well, I'd have liked to keep him
going if he'd stayed with me, but I can't stand for losing the dollars
he owes. What are we going to do about the thing?"

Keller explained his plans, and after some argument the other agreed.
The decision they came to would bring Charnock's farming to an end,
but Keller left the office with some doubts. His scheme was going to
succeed, but he wondered whether he had indulged Sadie too far. Much