nd made to swing the skates
around by the straps. But his arm was, at that instant, caught in a
powerful grip, and, turning about in surprise, he looked into the
hard, cold eyes of his father, who had come up unseen, having stayed;
at the warehouse even later than Phil.

"If any blows are struck here, you sha'n't be the one to strike them,
sir," he said to Ned. "What's this I hear, of servants? I'll teach you
once for all, young man, that in my house Philip is your equal. Go to
your room and think of that till it becomes fixed in your mind."

To go without supper, with such an appetite, on such a cold night, was
indeed a dreary end for such a day's sport. I, who knew how chilled
and starved Ned must be, really pitied him.

But instead of slinking off with a whimper, he for the first time in
his life showed signs of revolt.

"What if I don't choose to go to my room?" he answered, impudently, to
our utmost amazement. "You may prefer an outside upstart over your
son, if you like, but you can't always make your son a prisoner by the
ordering."

Mr. Faringfield showed little of the astonishment and paternal wrath
he doubtless felt. He gazed coldly at his defiant offspring a moment;
then took a step toward him. But Ned, with the agility of boyhood,
turned and ran, looking back as he went, and stopping only when he was
at a safe distance.

"Come back," called his father, not risking his dignity in a doubtful
pursuit, but using such a tone that few would dare to disobey the
command.

"Suppose I don't choose to come back," answered Ned, to whose head the
very devil had now certainly mounted. "Maybe there's other places to
go to, where one doesn't have to stand by and see an upstart beggar
preferred to himself, and put in his place, and fed on the best while
he's lying hungry in his dark room."

"If there's another place for you, I'd advise you to find it," said
Mr. Faringfield, after a moment's reflection.

"Oh, I'll find it," was the reply; and then came what Master Ned knew
would be the crowning taunt and insult to his father. "If it comes to
the worst, I know how I can get to England, where I'd rather be,
anyway."

There was a reason why Mr. Faringfield's face turned dark as a
thunder-cloud at this. You must know, first, that in him alone was
embodied the third generation of colonial Faringfields. The founder of
the American branch of the family, having gone pretty nearly to the
dogs at home, and got into close