These various occurrences certainly did not tend to allay the uneasiness of Mr. Wetherell. The next afternoon, at a time when a slack trade was slackest, he had taken his chair out under the apple tree and was sitting with that same volume of Byron in his lap--but he was not reading. The humorous aspects of the doings of Mr. Bass did not particularly appeal to him now; and he was, in truth, beginning to hate this man whom the fates had so persistently intruded into his life. William Wetherell was not, it may have been gathered, what may be called vindictive. He was a sensitive, conscientious person whose life should have been in the vale; and yet at that moment he had a fierce desire to confront Jethro Bass and--and destroy him. Yes, he felt equal to that. Shocks are not very beneficial to sensitive natures. William Wetherell looked up, and there was Jethro Bass on the doorstep. “G-great resource--readin'--great resource,” he remarked. In this manner Jethro snuffed out utterly that passion to destroy, and another sensation took its place--a sensation which made it very difficult for William Wetherell to speak, but he managed to reply that reading had been a great resource to him. Jethro had a parcel in his hand, and he laid it down on the step beside him; and he seemed, for once in his life, to be in a mood for conversation. “It's hard for me to read a book,” he observed. “I own to it--it's a little mite hard. H-hev to kind of spell it out in places. Hain't had much time for readin'. But it's kind of pleasant to l'arn what other folks has done in the world by pickin' up a book. T-takes your mind off things--don't it?” Wetherell felt like saying that his reading had not been able to do that lately. Then he made the plunge, and shuddered as he made it. “Mr. Bass--I--I have been waiting to speak to you about that mortgage.” “Er--yes,” he answered, without moving his head, “er--about the mortgage.” “Mr. Worthington told me that you had bought it.” “Yes, I did--yes, I did.” “I'm afraid you will have to foreclose,” said Wetherell; “I cannot reasonably ask you to defer the payments any longer.” “If I foreclose it, what will you do?” he demanded abruptly. There was but one answer--Wetherell would have to go back to the city and face the consequences. He had not the strength to earn his bread on a farm. “If I'd a b'en in any hurry for the money--g-guess I'd a notified you,” said Jethro. “I think you had better foreclose, Mr. Bass,” Wetherell answered; “I can't hold out any hopes to you that it will ever be possible for me to pay it off. It's only fair to tell you that.” “Well,” he said, with what seemed a suspicion of a smile, “I don't know but what that's about as honest an answer as I ever got.” “Why did you do it?” Wetherell cried, suddenly goaded by another fear; “why did you buy that mortgage?” But this did not shake his composure.