"I suppose you realize, Ellen, just what you've pledged yourself
to, by that absurd outburst of yours in the barn to-night--and
all because that ungodly music and the moonshine had gone to your
head!"

"But I want the boy, Simeon. He--he makes me think of--John."

Harsh lines came to the man's mouth, but there was a perceptible
shake in his voice as he answered:--

"We're not talking of John, Ellen. We're talking of this
irresponsible, hardly sane boy upstairs. He can work, I suppose,
if he's taught, and in that way he won't perhaps be a dead loss.
Still, he's another mouth to feed, and that counts now. There's
the note, you know,--it's due in August."

"But you say there's money--almost enough for it--in the bank."
Mrs. Holly's voice was anxiously apologetic.

"Yes, I know" vouchsafed the man. "But almost enough is not quite
enough."

"But there's time--more than two months. It isn't due till the
last of August, Simeon."

"I know, I know. Meanwhile, there's the boy. What are you going
to do with him?"

"Why, can't you use him--on the farm--a little?"