ing for a reply.

"Hullo!" said the squire's voice. "You, is it? How did you get here? Were
you caught in the storm?"

"No, sir, I took shelter." Green shut the door, and came forward.

Mr. Fielding was seated in a leather arm-chair with a newspaper. He
looked at his visitor over it with anything but a favourable eye.

"What have you come for?" he said.

Green halted in front of him. "I've come to make a very humble apology,"
he said, "for my boy Robin's misdemeanour."

"Have you?" growled Fielding. He sat motionless, still looking up at
Green from under heavily scowling brows. "Do you think I'm going to be
satisfied with just an apology?"

"May I sit down, please?" said Green, pulling forward a chair.

"Oh yes, sit down! Sit down and argue!" said the squire irritably.
"You're always ready with some plausible excuse for that half-witted
young scoundrel. I'll tell you what it is, Dick. If you don't get rid
of him after this, there'll be a split between us. I'm not going to
countenance your infernal obstinacy any longer. The boy is unsafe and
he must go."

Green sat, leaning forward, courteously attentive, his eyes unwavering
fixed upon his patron's irate countenance.

He did not immediately reply to the mandate, and the squire's frown
deepened. "You hear me, Dick?" he said.

Green nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Well?" Fielding's hand clenched upon the paper in exasperation.

Dick's eyes very bright, wholly undismayed, continued to meet his with
unvarying steadiness. "I'm very sorry, sir," he said. "The answer is the
same as usual. I can't."

"Won't--you mean!" There was a sound in the squire's voice like the
muffled roar of an angry animal.

Dick's black brows travelled swiftly upward and came down again. "He's my
boy, sir," he said. "I'll be responsible for all he does."

"But--damn it!" ejaculated the squire. "Making yourself responsible for a
mad dog doesn't prevent his biting people, does it? He's become a public
danger, I tell you. You've no right to let him loose on the
neighbourhood."

"No, no, sir!" Dick broke in quickly. "That's not a fair thing to say.
The boy is as harmless as any of us if he isn't baited. I knew--I knew
perfectly well--that there was a reason for what he did to-day. So there
was. I'm not going into details. Besides, he was clearly in the wrong.
But you may take it from me--he was provoked."

"Oh! Was he?" said the squire. "And who provoked him? Jack?"

Dick hesitated momentaril