be willing to extend it another year?"

"I thought," said the squire, frowning, "I had given you to understand
that I cannot do this. You owe me a large sum in accrued interest."

"But if I make shift to pay this?"

"I should say the same. It may as well come first as last. You can't
hold the place, and there is no chance of your being better off by
waiting."

"I understand that the new railroad might go through my farm. That would
put me on my feet."

"There is no certainty that the road will ever be built. Even if it
were, it would not be likely to cross your farm."

"I see, Squire Sheldon, you are bound to have the place."

"There is no need to put it that way, Mr. Hooper. I lent you money
on mortgage. You can't pay the mortgage, and of course I foreclose.
However, I will buy the farm and allow you eighteen hundred dollars for
it. That will give you five hundred dollars over and above the money you
owe me."

"The farm is worth three thousand dollars."

"Nonsense, Mr. Hooper. Still if you get an offer of that sum TODAY I
will advise you to sell."

"I certainly won't take eighteen hundred."

"You won't? Then I shall foreclose, and you may have to take less."

"Then there is only one thing to do."

"As you say, there is only one thing to do."

"And that is, to pay off the mortgage and clear the farm."

"You can't do it!" exclaimed the squire uneasily.

Cyrus Hooper's only answer was to call "Jefferson."

Jefferson Pettigrew entered the room, followed by Rodney.

"What does this mean?" asked the squire.

"It means, Squire Sheldon," said Mr. Pettigrew, "that you won't turn
my uncle out of his farm this time. My young friend, Rodney Ropes, has
advanced Uncle Cyrus money enough to pay off the mortgage."

"I won't take a check," said the squire hastily.

"You would have to if we insisted upon it, but I have the money here in
bills. Give me a release and surrender the mortgage, and you shall have
your money."

It was with a crestfallen look that Squire Sheldon left the farmhouse,
though his pockets were full of money.

"It's all up," he said to his friend Caldwell in a hollow voice. "They
have paid the mortgage."

After all the railway did cross the farm, and Uncle Cyrus was paid two
thousand dollars for the right of way, much to the disappointment of
his disinterested friend Lemuel Sheldon, who felt that this sum ought to
have gone into his own pocket.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

A MINISTER'S GO