WHEN Nathan Middleton reached home at three o’clock in the afternoon, his face wore the look of mysterious importance that indicated the possession of a secret. His wife understood this at once, and asked immediately:

“What’s happened, Nathan?”

“What’s happened? Who said anything had happened?”

“Your looks said so.”

“Perhaps my looks will tell you what it is.”

“Nonsense, Mr. Middleton! Don’t keep me in suspense.”

“It’s about Tom.”

“What’s he done?” asked the lady eagerly. “Anything bad?”

“I should say it would be bad for him—and for us too.”

“Do tell me, Mr. Middleton, without beating around the bush all day.”

“Then this is the long and short of it—he’s lost his fortune.”

“Good gracious! How!”

“Bad investments. It’s a pity the money hadn’t been placed in my hands.”

“Has he lost forty thousand dollars?” ejaculated the lady.

“All but a few hundred dollars.”

“Then he’s got enough to pay his board a few months longer.”

“Mr. Sharp says he must leave us at once or pay only five dollars a week.”

“Five dollars a week! Ridiculous!”

“Of course it can’t be, Corinthia. So he leaves us to-morrow morning.”

“Did you get paid for this month?” asked Mrs. Middleton anxiously.

“Yes, I made sure of that.”

“Well,” said the lady. “It’ll be a loss to us, but I ain’t sorry for the boy. It’ll be a good lesson for him with all his airs and importance. I’m glad he’ll have to earn his own living.”

“As far as that goes I’m not sorry myself,” said Nathan.

“Does he know it?”

“Not yet.”

“When are you going to tell him?”

“At supper.”

“Be sure and tell him before me. I want to see how he stands it.”

“I meant to, Corinthia. By the way, I think you needn’t have any meat on at supper. He may as well begin at once to deny himself.”

“A good suggestion, Mr. Middleton.”

Just then the door was opened, and Squire Davenport was ushered in.

“I called to see you about renewing the insurance on my house, Mr. Middleton,” said he.

“Glad to see you squire.”

“Are you quite well, Mrs. Middleton? I needn’t ask after your young ward. I left him at my house.”

Mr. and Mrs. Middleton looked at each other. The former coughed.

“Tom leaves us to-morrow,” said Nathan.

“Indeed! You surprise me,” said the lawyer.

“Circumstances render it necessary for him to make different arrangements.”

“Has he become tired of Plympton? James will miss him.”

“I don’t know that he has become tired of it, but he has lost his fortune, and is now a poor boy.”

“You amaze me,” ejaculated Squire Davenport. “I thought him rich.”

“Three months ago he was worth forty thousand dollars.”

“How has it been lost?”

“By bad investments. I’ll tell you all I know about it,” and Nathan repeated the information he had heard in the morning.

“Of course,” he concluded, “he must now earn his own living.”

“I see,” said the lawyer. “How does he take it?”

“He doesn’t know it.”

“I’m glad he is to leave Plympton. Of course, I could no longer receive him at my house as the intimate companion of my son and daughter, if he is to be a working boy.”

“Certainly not,” said Nathan obsequiously. “Your children have a right to look higher.”

“Of course,” said the lawyer pompously. “While he was an heir to a handsome fortune, it was all very well, but social distinctions must be respected—eh, Mrs. Middleton?”

“You are quite right, I am sure, Squire Davenport,” said Mrs. Middleton. “The boy may be a common laborer or mechanic.”

“To be sure. Well, Mr. Middleton, I thank you for your information. It is well that he is not a few years older, or his evident admiration for Imogene might have led to unfortunate complications.”

“No, doubt,” said Nathan, though remembering the far from flattering terms in which Tom had often spoken of the young lady, he very much doubted whether there was any ground for such an apprehension.

An hour later Squire Davenport bent his steps homeward.

On the way he met Tom, just returning from his own house. Usually he had been very polite and gracious to our hero, but now he walked stiffly by, very slightly inclining his head, to Tom’s decided amazement.

“What’s up?” thought our hero. “He’s as cold as an iceberg. What have I been doing, I wonder?”

Tom thought, but in vain. He had been unusually quiet for a week past, and could not imagine how he had offended the village magnate.

“I suppose I’ll find out sometime,” he thought. “Meanwhile I won’t trouble myself about it.”

A new surprise awaited our hero. Generally Mr. and Mrs. Middleton were quite deferential to him. Remembering the twenty dollars a week they thought it polite to treat him as well as possible.

Now when he opened the door, and was about to go up-stairs, Mrs. Middleton called out sharply:

“Wipe your feet, will you? Do you think I shall allow a peck of dust to be tracked up-stairs.”

Tom stared at her in amazement.

“What do you stand gaping at?” demanded Corinthia in the same tone. “Didn’t you hear what I said?”

“You spoke loud enough for me to hear,” said Tom coolly. “Is anything the matter with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“I thought you might have eaten something that didn’t agree with you,” said Tom.

“Well, I declare!” ejaculated Mrs. Middleton. “You beat all for impudence!”

“I generally treat people well if they treat me well,” said Tom composedly, “but if you are impudent to me, I shall answer accordingly.”

This was too much for Mrs. Middleton. Had Tom still been rich, he would have had a right to assume such a tone, but in a poor boy it was intolerable.

“I’ll tell Mr. Middleton how you treat me!” she said angrily.

“Do,” said Tom, “if you want to.”

“Nathan,” called his wife, opening the door of the apartment in which her liege lord was reading.

“What is the matter, my dear?”

“Thomas has been impudent to me.”

“Thomas, this is a serious charge,” said Nathan severely.

Here was another surprise for Tom.

“It strikes me you are both crazy,” he said, looking from one to the other. “Settle it between you. I am going up-stairs.”

“Nathan, will you suffer him to insult me?” screamed Corinthia, showing signs of hysterics.

Tom did not hear the reply, as he was already entering his room.

“Something’s up,” he said to himself. “I wonder what it is.”

Tom’s curiosity was soon to be satisfied.