"Bob didn't take any deed!" stormed Betty to Mrs. Peabody, her
packing forgotten for the moment. "Why does he keep insisting Bob
stole it? And why, oh, why did that poorhouse man have to tell where
Bob had gone?"

Mrs. Peabody's natural curiosity had to be satisfied, and as it was
no longer a secret Betty told her of Lockwood Hale and Bob's
determination to find out more about himself.

"He doesn't want any deed," she finished scornfully. "Can't you make
Mr. Peabody see how foolish such an accusation is?"

Mrs. Peabody leaned against the kitchen table wearily.

"I know what he's thinking," she said dully. "I know more than I
want to know, Betty. Joseph has bought the Warren lots, and that
means he's got 'em for his own price. Old man Warren is in his dotage
and these lots have been surveyed and cut up into building plots on
the stone road over t'other side of Laurel Grove where the trolley's
coming through this spring. Joseph will probably sell 'em for three
times what he's paid for 'em. That's why he doesn't have the deed
recorded; Warren's children will get hold of it, and I doubt if the
sale would hold in court. Everybody knows the old father isn't
competent to handle his property. There was talk of having one of the
sons made his guardian some months ago. Joseph has just talked him
into selling. If he wasn't my husband, I should say the sale was a
plain swindle."