crisy of
the trick, and the complacent expression of the Elder's countenance
irritated him intensely. As he passed place after place where the cattle
had given him most trouble in the morning, anger took possession of him,
and at length forced itself to speech.

"See here, Elder Conklin!" he began abruptly, "I suppose you call
yourself a Christian. You look down on me because I'm not a Member.
Yet, first of all, you salt cattle for days till they're half mad with
thirst, then after torturing them by driving them for hours along this
road side by side with water, you act lies with the man you've sold them
to, and end up by cheating him. You know as well as I do that each of
those steers had drunk sixty-five pounds' weight of water at least; so
you got" (he couldn't use the word "stole" even in his anger, while the
Elder was looking at him) "more than a dollar a head too much. That's
the kind of Christianity you practise. I don't like such Christians, and
I'll leave your house as soon as I can. I am ashamed that I didn't tell
the dealer you were deceiving him. I feel as if I had been a party to
the cheat."

While the young man was speaking the Elder looked at him intently. At
certain parts of the accusation Conklin's face became rigid, but he
said nothing. A few minutes later, having skirted the orchard, they
dismounted at the stable-door.

After he had unsaddled his horse and thrown it some Indian corn,
Bancroft hastened to the house; he wanted to be alone. On the stoop he
met Loo and said to her hastily:

"I can't talk now, Loo; I'm tired out and half crazy. I must go to my
room and rest After supper I'll tell you everything. Please don't keep
me now."

Supper that evening was a silent meal. The Elder did not speak once;
the two young people were absorbed in their own reflections, and Mrs.
Conklin's efforts to make talk were effectual only when she turned
to Jake. Mrs. Conklin, indeed, was seldom successful in anything she
attempted. She was a woman of fifty, or thereabouts, and her face still
showed traces of former good looks, but the light had long left her
round, dark eyes, and the colour her cheeks, and with years her figure
had grown painfully thin. She was one of the numerous class who delight
in taking strangers into their confidence. Unappreciated, as a rule,
by those who know them, they seek sympathy from polite indifference or
curiosity. Before he had been a day in the house Bancroft had heard
from Mrs