him and he
yearned for the open and the sight of a hill. He dreamed vividly of
Lost Mountain, and he always saw it now enveloped in mist--a mist that
he felt confident would never again lift for him. It was homesickness
in the wide, spiritual sense that overpowered Sandy Morley at that time.

"Sandford, are you strong enough to talk business?"

"Yes, sir, I reckon I am."

The quaint politeness of his protege charmed Markham by its contrasts
to the manner of other boys with whom he had come into contact.

"Sit down, and take it easy. Shut the window. You never seem to be
able to hear when the sash is raised."

"Us-all's been used, sir, to still places."

"Now, then! In a day or two we will be home, Sandford. Home in
Bretherton, Mass. We can't offer you mountains there, but it is a good
rolling country and it's--quiet! I'm going to choose a school for you
as soon as I can, a country school where you can catch up without
having the life nagged out of you."

"And--and where am I to work and--live, sir?"

"You'll find work enough at the school for the regular terms--summers
you are going to stop with Miss Markham and me and I'll set you to work
in my mills. I always set every one I take an interest in, to work in
my mills."

"Yes, sir." Sandy's eyes were growing "strange" again. Markham was
learning to watch for that look.

"What's the matter?" he asked on the defensive; "what you thinking
about?"

"Only Smith Crothers' factory, sir, and--and the children."

"See here, Sandford; don't you get me mixed with that----" he stopped
short. At times his ability to converse with Sandy struck even him
with wonder. It was when he forgot the poor figure before him, and was
held by the expression in the thin face, that he let himself go.

"My mills," he continued more calmly, "are places of preparation;
not--death traps."

"Yes, sir."

"It all depends on you, Sandford. I made my way up from as poor a chap
as you are. I've given a lift to a good many other boys because of the
boy I once was, but I never take any nonsense. I'm going to be fair
with you and I expect you to be fair with me. Take things or leave
them--only speak out what's in your mind and act clean. What I do for
you isn't done for fun: I expect a return for everything I advance, and
I take my own way to get it. While you are at school--it's school
returns I want. When you go into the mills--I'll look for returns of a
different kind.