he said in her querulous way, "Why don't you go and see him?"

"Who?" said Julia with a shiver, afraid that her mother was insane.

"Andrew."

Julia did not need any second hint. Leaving her mother with Cynthy, she
soon presented herself at the door of the castle.

"Did _she_ send you?" asked Andrew dryly.

"Yes, sir."

"I've been expecting you for a long time. I'll go back with you. But
August must go along. He'll be glad of an excuse to see your face again.
You look thin, my poor girl."

They went past Wehle's, and August was only too glad to join them,
rejoicing that some sort of a crisis had come, though how it was to help
him he did not know. With the restlessness of a man looking for some
indefinable thing to turn up, Samuel was out on the porch waiting the
return of his daughter. Jonas had come for Cynthy Ann, and was sitting
on a "shuck-bottom" chair in front of the house.

Andrew reached out his hand and greeted his brother cordially, and spoke
civilly to Abigail. Then there was a pause, and Mrs. Anderson turned her
head to the wall and groaned. After a while she looked round and saw
August. A little of her old indignation came into her eyes as she
whimpered, "What did _he_ come for?"

"I brought him," said Andrew.

"Well, it's your house, do as you please. I suppose you'll turn us out
of our own home now."

"As you did me," said the Philosopher, smiling. "Let me remind you that
I was living on the river farm. My father had promised it to me, and
given me possession. A week before his death you got the will changed,
by what means you know. You turned me off the farm which had virtually
been mine for two years. If I turn you off now, it will be no more
than fair."

There was a look of pained surprise on Julia's face. She had not known
that the wrong her uncle had suffered was so great. She had not thought
that he would be so severe as to turn her father out.

"I don't want to talk of these things," Andrew went on. "I ought to
have broken the will, but I was not a believer in the law. I tell this
story now because I must justify myself to these young people for what I
am going to do. You have had the use of that part of the estate which
was rightfully mine for twenty years. I suppose I may claim it all now."

Julia's eyes looked at him pleadingly.

"Why don't you send us off and be done with it then?" said Mrs. Abigail,
rising up and resuming her old vehemence. "You set out to ruin us, and
now