"Am I supposed to obey him?" "Yes, he's your boss; and you will be lucky if you have no trouble with him." "I shall try to have no trouble, even if he is as disagreeable as he looks; but I will not be crowded too much." "I wouldn't if I was strong like you," returned Carl sadly. "I thought Mr. Farrington had charge of this room," said Fred, after a pause. "He does; though I believe he had a lot of trouble to keep these flockers a-going; it is such bad, dirty work that no one would stay on them. So he made a trade with Mr. Hanks, and let him the job of making the flocks and putting them into the cloth, and agreed to furnish him two boys. I don't know how much pay he gets out of it, but Jack Hickey, that's scouring the wool there in the other corner, says he is making money out of us every day; besides, he shirks the work upon us, and we have it almost all to do." "Hanks--Christopher Hanks," said Fred to himself, with a curious drawl through his nose; "not a pleasant sounding name." XV. Though Matthew De Vere was much gratified at Fred's misfortunes, and especially pleased at his own renewed friendship with Nellie Dutton, he was nevertheless far from happy. Time was going by rapidly--almost flying--and no money had been raised to meet his promise to Jacob Simmons. The three hundred dollars was constantly in his mind. Where and how could it be raised? The problem tormented him day and night, and he could see no solution to it. He did not dare to speak to his father about the money, for the latter would then find out everything, and would be sure to punish him severely. Matthew did not look upon such an outcome with any degree of favor. He considered himself a young man, and did not propose to be treated with the rod. On the other hand, there stared him in the face Jacob Simmons' threat of exposure and arrest. The situation was desperate. The money must be got, whether or no, and yet how could it be procured? If he failed in raising it, the boy he hated would be vindicated, while he would be shown up and disgraced before all the village. Nellie would have nothing more to do with him--would not so much as look at him--and she would, he reasoned, again become friendly with Fred, and then he would have no power to break it off as he had recently done. She would be lost to him, and his rival would reign in his stead. "No, no! This shall not be!" he said angrily, and spurned the thought from him; but it as quickly returned. He tried to forget it, but could not. The pressure from Jacob Simmons forced it back upon his mind, and it remained there and tormented him till he was almost mad. In this condition of mind he went to school next day, hoping that a pleasant greeting and a few smiles from Nellie would dissipate the vision that had so haunted him. Perhaps they would have done so, but he had not the pleasure of testing so desirable a remedy. Nellie came late--after school had commenced.