"Come, that's a good one," chuckled Nick. "Talk of me goin' to the
poorhouse, when my father pays one of the biggest taxes in town! Of
course, it's different with you."

"You'll have to excuse me now," said Philip, determined to get rid
of his disagreeable companion. "I have something to do."

"Then you won't sell me the fiddle, Phil?"

"No, I won't," answered our hero, with scant ceremony.

"Then I'll have to bid it off at the auction. Maybe I'll get it
cheaper."

And Mr. Nicholas Holden at length relieved Philip of his company.






CHAPTER IV.

THE AUCTION.





It so happened that Nick Holden met Squire Pope on the village