Robert's I will buy a pound of coffee."

Mrs. Trafton said nothing.

"Do you know where he has hidden it?" asked her husband after drinking a
cup of the tea which he had so decried.

"No."

"Didn't he tell you where he was going to put it?"

"No."

"You are sure he didn't give it to you to keep?"

"I am very glad he didn't."

"Why are you glad?"

"Because you would have teased me till you got it."

"And I'll have it yet, Mrs. Trafton--do you hear that?" said the
fisherman fiercely.

"Yes, I hear you."

"You may as well make up your mind that I am in earnest. What! am I to
be defied by a weak woman and a half-grown boy? You don't know me, Mrs.
T."

"I do know you only too well, Mr. Trafton. It was an unlucky day when I
married you."

"Humph! There may be two sides to that story. Well, I'm going."

"Where are you going? Shall you go out in the boat this morning?"

"Oh, you expect me to spend all my time working for my support, do you?
No, I am not going out in the boat. I am going to the village."

"To the tavern, I suppose?"

"And suppose I am going to the tavern," repeated the fisherman in a
defiant tone, "have you got anything to say against it?"

"I have a great deal to say, but it won't do any good."

"That's where you are right."

John Trafton left the cabin, but he did not immediately take the road to
the village.

First of all he thought he would look round a little and see if he could
not discover the hiding place of the little sum which his nephew had
concealed.

He walked about the cabin in various directions, examining carefully to
see if anywhere the ground had been disturbed.

In one or two places he thought he detected signs of disturbance, and,
bending over, scooped up the loose dirt, but, fortunately for our hero,
he was on a false scent and discovered nothing.

He was not a very patient man, and the fresh disappointment--for his
hopes had been raised in each case--made him still more angry.

"The young rascal!" he muttered. "He deserves to be flogged for giving
me so much trouble."

From the window of the cabin Mrs. Trafton saw what her husband was about
and she was very much afraid he would succeed. She could not
help--painful as it was--regarding with contempt a man who would stoop
to such pitiful means to obtain money to gratify his diseased appetite.

"If I thought my wife knew where this money is I'd have it out of her,"
muttered the fisherman with a dark look a