pposed you was at work on the steamer till Royal told me you had been
turned away."

"It wasn't my fault that I was turned off. Major Billcord blamed me for
what was not my fault," replied Dory.

"Your uncle said as much as that, and declared that he should give Major
Billcord a piece of his mind. At last Royal came to me to know what boys
you played with when you were at home. I gave him the names of all the
boys you used to call the Colchester Club."

"They changed the name to the Goldwing Club," added Dory.

"Your uncle found them all, and they told him all about the boat you had
bought. He took them with him when he went up to Plattsburgh in his
steam-yacht. He wanted them to help him find you," continued Mrs.
Dornwood.

"Then Corny Minkfield told him that I was a thief. If he had staid with
me, he would have heard the detective prove that I was not a thief. But
my uncle heard it all," said Dory.

"He proved that you did not steal the money you paid for the boat from
the man at the hotel; and that was all. No one knows to this minute
where you did get it."

"If you won't believe what I say, I can't help it," answered Dory, with
some indignation in his tones.

"I hope it is all right, Dory; but your uncle is afraid you are getting
into bad ways. He wants to do something for you."

"I don't want him to do any thing for me. I am able to take care of
myself, and you and Marian besides. With the Goldwing I can make five
dollars a day when I can get a party," said Dory.

"You had better see your uncle Royal, and talk with him. He has been
very kind to me, and he thinks a great deal of you," said Mrs. Dornwood.

"Thinks a great deal of me!" exclaimed Dory, hardly able to believe the
statement.

"That is just what he says. We had a long talk about you yesterday
forenoon, after he came back from his trip down the lake after you. He
said you were too smart for him, and he told how you had kept out of the
way of his steam-yacht. He thinks you have talent, and it would be a
great pity to have you go wrong in the world."

Dory was utterly astonished, for he supposed his uncle had a very mean
opinion of him. But he was not quite reconciled to having his mother
dependent on his uncle. He wanted to be independent, and he had been
thinking so much of supporting the family that he was not ready to give
up the idea.

"My brother has no family. His wife died before he left off going to
sea, and he has no children," sa