"Take a chair, and excuse my gettin' up. My old enemy, the rheumatism, has got hold of me, and I'm too stiff to move easy." "Oh, you are quite excusable, Mr. Dunham. I am sorry to hear that you are so afflicted." "It isn't altogether comfortable. Besides, it puts me behindhand. I've lost at least four weeks this winter from these rheumatic pains." "Ah, indeed!" "Yes, and as you can imagine, that is a serious thing to a poor man." "I suppose so," assented the squire, coughing. "I am glad you came in, squire, because I wanted to speak to you about the interest on that mortgage." "It falls due next week," said Squire Bates, promptly. "Just so, and I am sorry to say that for the first time I shall be unable to meet it." "Indeed!" returned the squire, his voice stiffening. "That is very unfortunate!" "So it is, squire, but I hope, as it is the first time, you will overlook it," said Adin Dunham, anxiously. "My dear sir," said the squire, "it is hardly necessary to say that I truly sympathize with you. You believe that, I hope?" "I thought you would squire. I didn't believe you'd be hard on me." "But—you misunderstand me a little, neighbor Dunham—I cannot be as considerate as I would like to be. The fact is, I am _very_ short of money, embarrassed in fact, and I depended on that payment. Perhaps you can borrow it?" "There's no one in the village likely to accommodate me with a loan unless it's you, squire." "And I am very short of cash. Indeed it would hardly do for me to lend you money to pay me, would it now?" "I am afraid not," said the carpenter, ruefully. "In fact, neighbor Dunham, I came here this evening to ask if you couldn't arrange to pay the mortgage." "_Pay_ the mortgage!" echoed Adin Dunham, with a blank look. "Yes; I thought you might raise the money in some way." "I wish you'd tell me where, Squire Bates. Eight hundred dollars! Why it's as big to me as the national debt! I did expect to pay off the mortgage with that thousand dollars, that I was so wickedly robbed of." "Oh, ah, to be sure! It was a great pity that you were prevented from doing it." "That robbery broke me down, Squire Bates. I believe it has made me five years older, though it happened less than a year ago. It makes me feel kind of rebellious at times to think that such a villain as the man that robbed me should go unpunished." "It isn't best to cry over spilt milk," said the squire who felt obviously uncomfortable under these allusions. "I can't help thinkin' of it though, squire." "To be sure, to be sure!" "When it was gone, I hoped that Dean would be able to help me to pay up the mortgage some time." "Have you heard from your nephew lately?" "Not for months. Have you heard from the man he went out with?" "Yes, I have heard several times." "Does he say anything about Dean?" "He says—but perhaps I had better not tell you. I don't want to distress you," and the squire hesitated. "Say what you have to say. I can stand it."