man had not stepped out into the moonlight, and up on the sills, and
shown himself to be--Mr. Markson.

"Well," I thought, "you _are_ the most particular man I ever knew--and
the most anxious! I don't know, though--it's natural enough; if _I_
can't keep away from this house, it's not strange that _he_ should want
to see all of it he can. It's natural enough, and it does him credit."

But Mr. Markson's next action was neither natural nor to his credit. He
took off his traveling shawl, and disclosed a carpenter's brace; this
and the shawl he laid on the ground, and then he examined the sills at
the corners, where they were joined.

They were only half joined, as we say in the trade--that is, the ends of
each piece of timber were sawn half through and the partially detached
portions cut out, so that the ends lapped over each other.

Well, Mr. Markson hastily stacked up bricks and boards to the height of
the foundation, and then made a similar stack at the other end of the
foundation-wall, and then he rolled one of the sills over on these two
supports, so it was bottom side up. Then he fitted a bit--a good wide
one, an inch and a quarter, at least, I should say--to the brace, and
then commenced boring a hole in the sill.

I was astonished, but not too much so to be angry. That piece of timber
was mine; Mr. Markson had not paid me a cent yet, and was not to do so
until the next morning, after examining the foundations and sills.

I had heard of such tricks before; my old employer had had men secretly
injure a building, so as to claim it was not built according to contract
when the money came due, but none of them did it so early in the course
of the business.

Within a few seconds my opinion of Mr. Markson's smartness altered
greatly, and so did my opinion of human nature in general. I would have
sadly, but promptly sold out my contract with Mr. Markson for the price
of a ticket for the West, and I should have taken the first train.

As he bored that hole I could see just how all the other builders in
town would look when I had to take the law on Markson, and how all my
friends would come and tell me I ought to have insisted on a payment in
advance.

But, after several sorrowful moments had elapsed, I commenced to think,
and I soon made up my mind what I would do. I would _not_ descend from
the tree while he was there--I have too much respect for my person to
put it at the mercy of an ill-disposed individual. But as