e wouldn't. I went over a short time since and had a talk with
him on the subject. I found he was sot on gettin' the farm into his own
hands."

"If he were willing to pay a fair value it wouldn't be so bad."

"He wasn't. He wanted to get it as cheap as he could."

"I wonder," said Jefferson Pettigrew reflectively, "whether I shall be
as hard and selfish if ever I get rich."

"I don't believe you will, Jefferson. I don't believe you will. It
doesn't run in the blood."

"I hope not Uncle Cyrus. How long have you known the squire?"

"Forty years, Jefferson. He is about ten years younger than I am. I was
a young man when he was a boy."

"And you attend the same church?"

"Yes."

"And still he is willing to take advantage of you and reduce you to
poverty. I don't see much religion in that."

"When a man's interest is concerned religion has to stand to one side
with some people."

It was in a pleasant frame of mind that Squire Sheldon left his house
and walked over to the farmhouse which he hoped to own. He had decided
to offer eighteen hundred dollars for the farm, which would be five
hundred over and above the face of the mortgage with the interest added.

This of itelf would give him an excellent profit, but he expected also,
as we know, to drive a stiff bargain with the new railroad company, for
such land as they would require to use.

"Stay here till I come back, Mr. Caldwell," he said. "I apprehend it
won't take me long to get through my business."

Squire Sheldon knocked at the door of the farmhouse, which was opened to
him by Nancy Hooper.

"Walk in, squire," she said.

"Is your husband at home, Mrs. Hooper?"

"Yes; he is waiting for you."

Mrs. Hooper led the way into the sitting room, where her husband was
sitting in a rocking chair.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Hooper," said the squire. "I hope I see you well."

"As well as I expect to be. I'm gettin' to be an old man."

"We must all grow old," said the squire vaguely.

"And sometimes a man's latter years are his most sorrowful years."

"That means that he can't pay the mortgage," thought Squire Sheldon.

"Well, ahem! Yes, it does sometimes happen so," he said aloud.

"Still if a man's friends stand by him, that brings him some comfort."

"I suppose you know what I've come about, Mr. Hooper," said the squire,
anxious to bring his business to a conclusion.

"I suppose it's about the mortgage."

"Yes, its about the mortgage."

"Will you