“Then he’ll wait, or take part.  I suppose you can pay part.”

“Yes, half.”

“Then I guess there won’t be any chance of anything going wrong.”

“If there should,” persisted Frank, “could you lend us four hundred dollars to make up the amount?”

“I’d do it in a minute, Frank, but I hain’t got the money by me.  What money I have got besides the farm is lent out in notes.  Only last week I let my brother-in-law have five hundred dollars, and that leaves me pretty short.”

“Perhaps somebody else will advance the money,” said Frank, feeling a little discouraged at the result of his first application.

“Yes, most likely.  But I guess you won’t need any assistance.  I look upon it as certain that the mortgage will be renewed.  Next fall I shall have the money, and if the squire wants to dispose of the mortgage, I shall be ready to take it off his hands.”

Frank tried to feel that he was foolish in apprehending trouble from Squire Haynes, but he found it impossible to rid himself of a vague feeling of uneasiness.

He made application to another farmer—­an intimate friend of his father’s—­but he had just purchased and paid for a five-acre lot adjoining his farm, and that had stripped him of money.  He, too, bade Frank lay aside all anxiety, and assured him that his fears were groundless.

With this Frank had to be content.

“Perhaps I am foolish,” he said to himself.  “I’ll try to think no more about it.”

He accordingly returned to his usual work, and, not wishing to trouble his mother to no purpose, resolved not to impart his fears to her.  Another ground of relief suggested itself to him.  Mr. Morton would probably be back on the 27th of June.  Such, at least, was his anticipation when he went away.  There was reason to believe that he would be both ready and willing to take up the mortgage, if needful.  This thought brought back Frank’s cheerfulness.

It was somewhat dashed by the following letter which he received a day or two later from his absent friend.  It was dated New York, June 25, 1863.  As will appear from its tenor, it prepared Frank for a further delay in Mr. Morton’s arrival.

“Dear frank:  I shall not be with you quite as soon as I intended. 
I hope, however, to return a day or two afterward at latest.  My
business is going on well, and I am assured of final success. 
Will you ask your mother if she can accommodate an acquaintance
of mine for a day or two?  I shall bring him with me from New
York, and shall feel indebted for the accommodation. 
“Your true friend,
           “Henry Morton.”

Frank understood at once that the acquaintance referred to must be the clerk, whose evidence was so important to Mr. Morton’s case.  Being enjoined to secrecy, however, he, of course, felt that he was not at liberty to mention this.

One day succeeded another until at length the morning of the thirtieth of June dawned.  Mr. Morton had not yet arrived; but, on the other hand, nothing had been heard from Squire Haynes.