's sure to pay. An'--there's some cedar ordered,
an'--"

"I must have it next week," said the doctor, "or--" He paused. "I
shall dislike to proceed to extreme measures," he added.

Then John Upham, aroused to boldness by desperation, as the very oxen
will sometimes run in madness if the goad be sharp enough, told
Doctor Prescott to his face, with scarce a stumble in his speech,
that he owned half the town now; that his land was much more valuable
than his, which was mostly swampy woodland and pasture-lands,
bringing in scarcely enough income to feed and clothe his family.

"Sha'n't have 'nough to live on if I let any on't go," said John
Upham, "an' you've got more land as 'tis than any other man in town."

Doctor Prescott did not raise or quicken his clear voice; his eyes
did not flash, but they gave out a hard light. John Upham was like a
giant before this little, neat, wiry figure, which had such a majesty
of port that it seemed to throw its own shadow over him.

"We are not discussing the extent of my possessions," said Doctor
Prescott, "but the extent of your debts." He moved aside, as if to
clear the passage to the door, turning slightly at the same time
towards his other caller, who was cold with indignation upon John
Upham's account and terror upon his own.

Half minded he was, when John Upham went out, with his clamping,
clumsy tread, with his honest head cast down, and no more words in
his mouth for the doctor's last smoothly scathing remark, to follow
him at a bound and ask nothing for himself; but he stood still and
watched him go.

When John Upham had opened the door and was passing through, the
doctor pursued him with yet one more bit of late advice. "It is poor
judgment," said Doctor Prescott, "for a young man to marry and bring
children into the world until he has property enough to support them
without running into debt. You would have done better had you waited,
Mr. Upham. It is what I always tell young men."

Then John Upham turned with the last turn of the trodden worm. "My
wife and my children are my own!" he cried out, with a great roar.
"It's between me and my Maker, my having 'em, and I'll answer to no
man for it!" With that he was gone, and the door shut hard after
him.

Then Doctor Prescott, no whit disturbed, turned to Jerome and looked
at him. Jerome made his manners again. "You are the Edwards boy,
aren't you?" said the doctor.

Jerome humbly acknowledged his identity.

"Wha