Levi asserted himself--"just you calm down. But if it
will ease your mind any I'll tell you this much, lad. We've got it all
fixed up amongst us--and if you want to go to Massachusetts and try
your hand at your luck, you're going to be given an opportunity. Now,
let go that grip on the arms of your chair! Matilda, get some broth;
get----"

But he stopped short. The look in Sandy's eyes held him. Levi Markham
often said afterward that the expression on the boy's face at that
moment gave him a "turn." It was no boy-look; it was the command from
all that had gone to the making of Sandy; command that the boy be dealt
fairly with at last.

"I'm a hard man, Matilda," Markham said later, when Sandy had let go
the grip of his chair, taken his broth and fallen exhaustedly to sleep;
"I'm a hard man who has hewn his own way up, but I hope I'm a just man,
and I declare before God I wouldn't dare play unfairly with the lad.
He's not the first fellow I've put upon his feet; some have toppled
over; some have gone ahead of me and given me the cold shoulder
afterward--a few have stood by me in the mills--this youngster shall
have a try to prove that look on his face."

So it was that ten days later the Markhams, with their "po' white
trash," left The Forge--Bob rebelliously struggling in the baggage car.
A certain piece of land high up among the hills had been purchased by
Markham and the deed rested secure in his pocket. He knew what he was
about, and if a certain fool of a boy thought well of a proposition to
be made to him--there might be a future for himself and others later on.

"It's a great factory site," Markham had written home to his lawyer;
"plenty of water and power. Land as rich as if it was just made, and
labour aching to be utilized--not exploited."

The journey to Massachusetts was taken in slow stages--Sandy and Bob
complicated matters.

"You--think, sir, my money will--hold out?" Sandy once asked wearily.

"I've been estimating," Levi thoughtfully returned; "barring accidents,
taking to cheap hotels and allowing for a few weeks' rest after we
reach home, the amount will about see you through."

"Thank you, sir."

They were talking in Sandy's bedroom in a very good hotel in New York
at that moment.

"You look pretty spruce to-day, young man."

"I'm feeling right smart, sir. Could--could I, do you think,
write--two notes?"

This was such an unusual request that Markham was curious.

"That's eas