“Do you think so?  Thank you for the compliment.”

“You might as well keep on.  You will probably succeed better as a farmer than in business.”

“I mean to succeed in anything I undertake.”

“You’ve got a comfortable opinion of yourself.”

“While you, on the contrary, are modest and unassuming.”

“What do you mean?” asked Conrad, coloring.

“I meant to compliment you, but if you don’t like it I will take it back.  Suppose I say that you are neither modest nor unassuming.”

“If that is the way you are going to talk to me I will go away,” said Conrad, haughtily.  “It is a little imprudent, considering—­”

“Considering what?”

“That my father can turn you all out at the end of two years.”

“If that is the way you are going to talk to me I shall be glad to have you go away, as you just threatened.”

“Pride and poverty don’t go together very well,” said Conrad, provoked.

“I don’t want to be either proud or poor,” returned Andy, smiling.

“That fellow provokes me,” thought Conrad.  “However, he’ll repent it some time.”

In five minutes his place was taken by Valentine Burns, an intimate friend of Andy’s.  His father kept the village store, and was one of the leading citizens of Arden.

“Hard at work, I see, Andy,” he said.

“Don’t you want to help me?”

“No, I’m too lazy.  I have to work in the store out of school hours, you know.  Are you going to the picnic?”

“What picnic?”

“There’s a Sunday-school picnic next Thursday afternoon.  Both churches unite in it.  All the young people will be there.  You would have heard of it if you hadn’t been absent at school.”

“I will certainly go.  There are so few amusements in Arden that I can’t afford to miss any.  I suppose there will be the usual attractions?”

“Yes, and an extra one besides.  There’s a gentleman from the city staying at the hotel, who has offered a prize of ten dollars to the boy who will row across the pond in the shortest time.”

“The distance is about half a mile, isn’t it?”

“Yes; a little more.”

“I suppose you will go in for the prize, Val.  You have a nice boat to practice in.”

“No amount of practice would give me the prize.  I don’t excel as a rower.”

“Who is expected to win?”

“Conrad Carter confidently counts on securing the prize.  There is no boy in Arden that can compete with him, except—­”

“Well, except whom?”

“Andy Grant.”

“I don’t know,” said Andy, thoughtfully.  “I can row pretty well—­that is, I used to; but I am out of practice.”

“Why don’t you get back your practice?”

“I have no boat.”

“Then use mine,” said Valentine, promptly.

“You are very kind, Val.  How many days are there before the picnic?”