About half-past seven, Andy, looking out of the window, saw the stately and dignified figure of Squire Carter coming up the front path.

“The squire is coming, father,” he said.  “I want you to look sober, just as if you were unprepared to pay the interest.”

Squire Carter had already been informed by Conrad that Andy was in the village.  He showed no surprise, therefore, when he saw him.

He had also been down to the river and taken a look at Andy’s boat.  He could see that it was a very handsome one, and doubtless worth as much as Conrad reported.

“So you have come home, Andrew?” he said.

“Yes, Squire Carter.”

“You haven’t lost your place, have you?”

“No, sir.  I have come home on a visit.”

“Ahem!  You arrived at an unfortunate time for your father.  He has had bad luck.  Things seem to have gone against him.”

“So I heard, sir.”

“If you had been at home to help him on the farm, things would have been different, maybe.”

“I hope to help him by staying in the city.”

“That isn’t very likely.  I don’t approve, for my part, of boys leaving home to work.”

“I think I shall succeed in the end, sir.”

“Ahem!  I have no doubt you think so, but boys like you haven’t much judgment.  I suppose you know that interest is due on the mortgage for the first six months, and that your father can’t meet it.”

“I have heard so, Squire Carter.”

“As a friend of your father I have a plan to propose that may make things easy for him.  I am glad to see you, for a part of my business is with you.”

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE INTEREST IS PAID.

Andy was surprised by the squire’s words.  He could not conjecture what business Squire Carter could have with him.

“First,” said the squire, “may I ask, Mr. Grant, whether you can pay the interest on the mortgage which I hold when it comes due?”

“I have only twenty-five dollars at my command now, Squire Carter.  Perhaps something may turn up between now and next Tuesday.”

“That is extremely likely,” said the squire, in a tone of sarcasm.

“Have you anything to propose?  Are you willing to wait a month?”

“No, sir; I am not.  It will be extreme folly on my part.  Do you expect to come into a fortune within thirty days?”

“No, sir.”

“So I presume.  However, I have a plan to propose.  I did intend to say that I would allow you fifty dollars for your two best cows.  But even that would not pay the deficit.  I believe your son owns a boat.”

“I do,” said Andy, looking up.  He began to understand the squire’s plan.

“I am willing to allow twenty dollars for it, as my son has taken a fancy to it, and his own boat was destroyed through the malice of a tramp.  This, with fifty dollars for your two cows, would pay the interest all but twenty dollars, which you say you are able to pay in cash.”