"No; I have as much more to your credit. I am ready to pay it to you at once."
"I see, John, you think I have not been doing well."
"You don't look very prosperous, Tom, I must acknowledge."
"Well, John, appearances are deceitful. I have been wonderfully lucky."
"I am delighted to hear it, Tom," said Miles, cordially. "How much is it now?"
"I won't keep you in suspense, John. I don't know exactly how much I've got, but it's over six thousand dollars!"
John Miles stared at our hero in undisguised astonishment.
"Are you sure you're quite right _here_?" he said, touching his forehead. "You haven't been sun-struck, have you?"
"No, John, it's all as I tell you. Let me explain how my luck came."
In a few sentences Tom made it clear to his partner that his luck was real.
"As to the three hundred dollars due me from you, John," concluded Tom, "I make you a present of it."
"Let it be so, and for the future you shall pay me my share. Have you any letters for me?"
"Give them to me, quick. I am hungry for news from home."
Tom sat down on a keg, and fairly devoured the letters, two of which were from his father. One of these gave him much to think of. I will transcribe the passages which gave Tom most concern:--
"Yesterday I paid Squire Hudson his regular semi-annual interest, amounting to sixty-six dollars. Thanks to your liberal remittances, I had no difficulty in making the payment. Indeed, I had two hundred dollars left over. Imagine my dismay when the squire told me he had made up his mind to call in the mortgage, having another use for the money.
"'You ought to be able to obtain the money somewhere,' he returned.
"'You are the only capitalist with whom I am acquainted,' said I. 'Since I have paid you the interest promptly, what more can you desire?'
"He insisted that he needed the money. I offered to pay him the two hundred dollars which he had advanced for your journey. He seemed surprised, but repeated that he must have the whole. The upshot of it was that he gave me a formal notice of three months, as stipulated in the mortgage. At the end of that time, unless I am ready to pay the twenty-two hundred dollars, he will foreclose, and the old farm must be sold. Of course it will be sold much below its real value. Probably the squire will get it for the amount of the mortgage, and we shall be thrown upon the world, without a home. It seems hard, Tom, and very selfish; but might makes right, and Squire Hudson has the power on his side."