ral court, member of the school committee, one of the selectmen,
and an overseer of the poor.

Besides, there was another reason why the temerity of the keeper was
peculiarly aggravated. Jacob Wire was the squire's brother-in-law; and
though the squire despised him quite as much and as heartily as the
rest of the people of Redfield, it was not fitting that any of his
connections should be assailed by another. It was not so much the
fact, as the source from which it came, that was objectionable.

"How dare you speak to me in that manner, Mr. Nason?" exclaimed the
squire. "Do you know who I am?"

Mr. Nason did know who he was, but at that moment, and under those
circumstances, he so far forgot himself as to inform the important
functionary that he didn't care who he was; Jacob Wire's was not a fit
place for a heathen, much less a Christian.

"What do you mean, sir?" gasped the overseer in his rage.

"I mean just what I say, Squire Walker. Jacob Wire is the meanest man
in the county. He half starves his wife and children; and no hired man
ever stayed there more than a week--he always starved them out in that
time."

"If you please, sir, I would rather not go to Mr. Wire's," put in
Harry, to whom the county jail seemed a more preferable place.

"There, shut up! I say you shall go there!" replied the squire.

"Really, squire, this is too bad. You know Wire as well as any man in
town, and--"

"Not another word, Mr. Nason! Have the boy ready to go to Jacob Wire's
to-morrow!" and the overseer, not very well satisfied with the
interview, hastened away to avoid further argument upon so delicate a
topic.

Harry stood watching the retreating form of the great man of Redfield.
The mandate he had spoken was the knell of hope to him. It made the
future black and desolate. As he gazed the tears flooded his eyes, and
his feelings completely overcame him.

"Don't cry, Harry," said the kind-hearted keeper, taking him by the
hand.

"I can't help it," sobbed Harry. "He will whip me, and starve me to
death. Don't let him put me there."

"I don't know as I can help it, Harry."

"I am willing to work, and work hard, too; but I don't want to be
starved to death."

"I will do what I can for you; but the other overseers do pretty much
as Squire Walker tells them to do."

"I can't go to Jacob Wire's," burst from Harry's lips, as he seated
himself on a rock, and gave way to the violence of his emotions.

"I will see the other