! frivolous!"

"School has closed for the term," said Dick. "I'm done with studying,
and that book looked as if it was to be studied."

"It was," replied his uncle. "It merits being well studied. But it's
what I expected of you. It's the way that you have been brought up."

"I guess my father brought me up in the way he thought best," fired back
Dick.

"Well, his way is very different from mine--very different," and Mr.
Larabee shook his head as though to indicate that a great mistake had
been made. "Then there's your mother's will," he went on. "The idea of
leaving that big fortune to a boy like you. It's wicked! It's a terrible
risk! A terrible risk! What a foolish woman she was! But then it's all
you can expect of a woman!"

"Look here, Uncle Ezra!" exclaimed Dick, rising to his feet, his brown
eyes sparkling in a dangerous way, and a red flush showing on his
cheeks. "I don't want you to speak that way of my mother!"

"She was my sister, and I say she made a foolish will!" stormed the old
man.

"She was my mother!" replied Dick hotly, "and I'll not have her spoken
of in that way! She knew what she was doing! She was the best woman that
ever lived and--and much better than you are with your ideas of what is
good. You musn't speak so of her! I'll not stand it!"

"Look here, young man!" exclaimed Mr. Larabee. "I guess you forget who
you're talking to."

"No, I don't!"

"I won't have such language used toward me. I say your mother made a
foolish will, and I know what I'm talking about."

"If you say that again I'll--I'll--" and then Dick paused. After all
this man was his mother's brother, and he knew how his parent would have
gently reproved him had she been alive. The memory of her took all the
hard feeling out of his heart.

"I'm sorry I spoke so hastily, Uncle Ezra," he said in a low voice. "But
I can't bear to have my mother referred to in that way. I think she did
what was right, and I know my father does also."

"Humph, little he knows about it," snorted Mr. Larabee. "Just you wait
until you come under my care, young man, and I'll show you what's what!
I'll teach you how to behave to your elders," and, in great indignation,
the old man trudged off.

Dick started. He had, for the moment, forgotten that portion of his
mother's will which, under certain conditions, would compel him to live
with his uncle and aunt.

"Live with them?" thought the boy. "Go to a boarding school they might
select? Not