Abner proceeded to do this, first thinking it necessary to ask a few questions.

“Where do you live when you’re at home, Sam?” he asked.

“In New York; but my name isn’t Sam,” replied Herbert.

“What is it, then?”

“Herbert.”

“What makes him call you Sam, then?” asked Abner, with a jerk of the finger toward the house.

“I don’t know, except he is afraid I will be found.”

Abner looked puzzled.

“Is he your guardeen?” he asked.

“No; he was my father’s clerk.”

“Ho!  Did your father have clerks?”

“Yes; he is a rich man and does business in New York.”

“What made him send you out here?”

“He didn’t.”

“Then why did you come?”

“Mr. Ford was mad with papa, and stole me away.”

“He wouldn’t steal me away easy!” said Abner, defiantly; “but, then, I ain’t a little kid like you.”

“I’m not a kid,” said Herbert, who was not used to slang.

“Oh, you don’t know what I mean—­you’re a little boy and couldn’t do nothin’.  If he tried to take me, he’d find his hands full.”

Herbert, who was not very much prepossessed by Abner’s appearance, thought it very doubtful whether any one would ever attempt to kidnap him.

“What’s he goin’ to do with you?” continued Abner.

“I don’t know.  I expect he’ll make papa pay a good sum to get me back.”

“Humph!” remarked Abner, surveying with some contempt the small proportions of the boy before him.  “You ain’t much good.  I don’t believe he’ll pay much for you.”

Tears sprang to the eyes of the little boy, but he forced them back.

“My papa would think differently,” he said.

“Papa!” mimicked Abner.  “Oh, how nice we are!  Why don’t you say dad, like I do?”

“Because it isn’t a nice name.  Papa wouldn’t like to have me call him so.”

“Where did you get them clothes?  I don’t think much of ’em.”

“Nor I,” answered Herbert.  “They’re not my own clothes.  Mr. Ford bought them for me in Chicago.”

“He must like you, to buy you new clothes.”

“No, he doesn’t.  My own clothes were much nicer.  He sold them.  He was afraid some one would know me in the others.”

“I wonder what he and marm are talking about so long?”

This question Herbert was unable to answer.  He did not guess how nearly this conversation affected him.

No sooner had the two entered the house than Willis Ford began.

“Mrs. Barton,” he said, “I’ll tell you now what brought me here.”

“Go ahead,” said the lady, encouragingly.

“I want you to take the boy I have brought with me to board.”

“Land sakes!  I don’t keep a boardin’ house!”

“No; but if I will make it worth your while you will take him, won’t you?”

“How much will you give?” asked Mrs. Barton, shrewdly.