lds who owned the mills, the great estates of Mr.
Lawrence Fernald and Mr. Clarence Fernald who every day rolled to their
offices in giant limousines. Everybody in Freeman's Falls knew them by
sight,--the big boss, as he was called, and his married son; and
everybody thought how lucky they were to own the mills and take the
money instead of doing the work. At least, that was what gossip said
they did.

Unquestionably it was much nicer to live at Aldercliffe, the stately
colonial mansion of Mr. Lawrence Fernald; or at Pine Lea, the home of
Mr. Clarence Fernald, where sweeping lawns, bright awnings, gardens,
conservatories, and flashing fountains made a wonderland of the place.
Troupes of laughing guests seemed always to be going and coming at both
houses and there were horses and motor-cars, tennis courts, a golf
course, and canoes and launches moored at the edge of the river.
Freeman's Falls was a very stupid spot when contrasted with all this
jollity. It must be far pleasanter, too, when winter came to hurry off
to New York for the holidays or to Florida or California, as Mr.
Clarence Fernald frequently did.

With money enough to do whatever one pleased, how could a person help
being happy? And yet there were those who declared that both Mr.
Lawrence and Mr. Clarence Fernald would have bartered their fortunes to
have had the crippled heir to the Fernald millions strong like other
boys. Occasionally Ted had caught a glimpse of this Laurie Fernald, a
fourteen-year-old lad with thin, colorless face and eyes that were
haunting with sadness. In the village he passed as "the poor little
chap" or as "poor Master Laurie" and the employees always doffed their
caps to him because they pitied him. Whether one liked Mr. Fernald or
Mr. Clarence or did not, every one united in being sorry for Mr.
Laurie. Perhaps the invalid realized this; at any rate, he never failed
to return the greetings accorded him with a smile so gentle and sweet
that it became a pleasure in the day of whomsoever received it.

It was said at the factories that the reason the Fernalds went to New
York and Florida and California was because of Mr. Laurie; that was the
reason, too, why so many celebrated doctors kept coming to Pine Lea,
and why both Mr. Fernald and Mr. Clarence were often so sharp and
unreasonable. In fact, almost everything the Fernalds did or did not
do, said or did not say, could be traced back to Mr. Laurie. From the
moment the boy was bor