don't sympathize with me. If you dare to say or hint
anything against my birth, I'll treat you worse than I have yet."

"You'll suffer for this!" almost shrieked Guy.

"I am ready to suffer now, if you are able to make me," said Hector.
"Come on, and we'll settle it now."

But Guy had no desire for the contest to which he was invited. He had a
wholesome fear of Hector's strong, muscular arms, aided, as they were,
by some knowledge of boxing. Hector had never taken regular lessons, but
a private tutor, whom his father had employed, a graduate of Yale, had
instructed him in the rudiments of the "manly art of self-defense," and
Hector was very well able to take care of himself against any boy of his
own size and strength. In size, Guy was his equal, but in strength he
was quite inferior. This Guy knew full well, and, angry as he was, he by
no means lost sight of prudence.

"I don't choose to dirty my hands with you," he said. "I shall tell my
father, and it would serve you right if he sent you adrift."

In Hector's present mood, he would not, perhaps, have cared much if
this threat had been carried into execution, but he was not altogether
reckless, and he felt that it was best to remain under Mr. Roscoe's
protection until he had had time to investigate the remarkable story
which he suspected his reputed uncle had trumped up to serve his own
interests.

"Tell your father, if you like," said Hector, quietly. "I don't know
whether he will sustain you or not in your insults, but if he does, then
I shall have two opponents instead of one."

"Does that mean that you will attack my father?" demanded Guy, hoping
for an affirmative answer, as it would help him to prejudice his father
against our hero.

"No," answered Hector, smiling, "I don't apprehend there will be any
necessity, for he won't insult me as you have done."

Guy lost no time in seeking his father, and laying the matter before him,
inveighing against Hector with great bitterness.

"So he knocked you down, did he, Guy?" asked Allan Roscoe, thoughtfully.

"Yes; he took me unawares, or he couldn't have done it," answered Guy, a
little ashamed at the avowal.

"What did you do?"

"I--I told him he should suffer for it."

"Why did he attack you?"

"It was on account of something I said."

"What was it?"

Guy reluctantly answered this question, and with correctness.

"It was your fault for speaking to him when he was feeling sore at
making a painful