The next morning Dick, without saying anything to Mr. or Mrs. Larabee, walked to the railroad station. There he sent a telegram to his father. It read: "Dear Dad. This place is fierce. Can't I come home? Wire me quick." He said he would wait at the station for an answer, and he was a little sorry when it came, as it meant he would have to go back to the dismal house. His father's reply was: "Dear Dick. To fulfill the conditions you must remain a week. Do the best you can and let it be a lesson to you." "Be a lesson to me?" mused Dick. "Oh, I see! He means I must make that investment so I won't have to come here and live." On his return Dick entered the house at the rear door, pausing momentarily to wipe his feet. But his aunt was watching for him. "Richard," she said severely. "They're not half clean. I can see dirt on them." "Oh," he began, but he kept silent, and, instead of entering, turned into the orchard. There, at least, he would not be corrected. His uncle found him there a little later, as Dick was sitting idly under a tree. "Haven't you anything to occupy yourself with?" asked Mr. Larabee severely. "No," answered Dick. "There's no one to get up a baseball game with around here, as far as I can see." "Boys shouldn't always be playing," commented Mr. Larabee. "You should labor to improve your mind. Why don't you read that book I gave you last night?" "I don't care for it." "That's the way with the rising generation. Frivolous! frivolous!" "School has closed for the term," said Dick. "I'm done with studying, and that book looked as if it was to be studied." "It was," replied his uncle. "It merits being well studied. But it's what I expected of you. It's the way that you have been brought up." "I guess my father brought me up in the way he thought best," fired back Dick. "Well, his way is very different from mine--very different," and Mr. Larabee shook his head as though to indicate that a great mistake had been made. "Then there's your mother's will," he went on. "The idea of leaving that big fortune to a boy like you. It's wicked! It's a terrible risk! A terrible risk! What a foolish woman she was! But then it's all you can expect of a woman!" "Look here, Uncle Ezra!" exclaimed Dick, rising to his feet, his brown eyes sparkling in a dangerous way, and a red flush showing on his cheeks. "I don't want you to speak that way of my mother!" "She was my sister, and I say she made a foolish will!" stormed the old man. "She was my mother!" replied Dick hotly, "and I'll not have her spoken of in that way! She knew what she was doing! She was the best woman that ever lived and--and much better than you are with your ideas of what is good. You musn't speak so of her! I'll not stand it!" "Look here, young man!" exclaimed Mr. Larabee. "I guess you forget who you're talking to." "No, I don't!"