There seemed no hope left save in Mr. Morton. At six o'clock the stage rolled up to the gate.

"Thank Heaven! Mr. Morton has come!" exclaimed Frank eagerly.

Mr. Morton got out of the stage, and with him a feeble old man, or such he seemed, whom the young man a.s.sisted to alight. They came up the gravel walk together.

"How do you do, Frank?" he said, with a cheerful smile.

"We are in trouble," said Frank. "Squire Haynes is going to foreclose the mortgage to-morrow."

"Never mind!" said Mr. Morton. "We will be ready for him. He can't do either of us any more mischief, Frank. His race is about run."

A heavy weight seemed lifted from Frank's heart. For the rest of the day he was in wild spirits. He asked no questions of Mr. Morton. He felt a firm confidence that all would turn out for the best.

CHAPTER x.x.xII. TURNING THE TABLES

The next morning Mr. Morton made inquiries of Frank respecting the mortgage. Frank explained that a loan of four hundred dollars would enable him to cancel it.

"That is very easily arranged, then," said Henry Morton.

He opened his pocketbook and drew out four crisp new United States notes, of one hundred dollars each.

"There, Frank," said he; "that will loosen the hold Squire Haynes has upon you. I fancy he will find it a little more difficult to extricate himself from my grasp."

"How can I ever thank you, Mr. Morton?" said Frank, with emotion.

"It gives me great pleasure to have it in my power to be of service to you, Frank," said his friend kindly.

"We will have a mortgage made out to you," continued Frank.

"Not without my consent, I hope," said Mr. Morton, smiling.

Frank looked puzzled.

"No, Frank," resumed Mr. Morton, "I don't care for any security. You may give me a simple acknowledgment of indebtedness, and then pay me at your leisure."

Frank felt with Justice that Mr. Morton was acting very generously, and he was more than ever drawn to him.

So pa.s.sed the earlier hours of the forenoon.

About eleven o'clock Squire Haynes was observed approaching the house.

His step was firm and elastic, as if he rejoiced in the errand he was upon. Again he lifted the knocker, and sounded a noisy summons. It was in reality a summons to surrender.

The door was opened again by Mrs. Frost, who invited the squire to enter. He did so, wondering at her apparent composure.

"They can't have raised the money," thought he apprehensively. "No, I am sure the notice was too short."

Frank was in the room, but Squire Haynes did not deign to notice him, nor did Frank choose to make advances. Mrs. Frost spoke upon indifferent subjects, being determined to force Squire Haynes to broach himself the business that had brought him to the farm.

Finally, clearing his throat, he said: "Well, madam, are you prepared to cancel the mortgage which I hold upon your husband's farm?"

"I hope," said Mrs. Frost, "you will give us time. It is hardly possible to obtain so large a sum in twenty-four hours."

"They haven't got it," thought the squire exultingly.

"As to that," he said aloud, "you've had several years to get ready in."

"Have you no consideration? Remember my husband's absence, and I am unacquainted with business."

"I have already told you," said the squire hastily, "that I require the money. I have a note to pay, and----"

"Can you give us a week?"

"No, I must have the money at once."

"And if we cannot pay?"

"I must foreclose."

"Will that give you the money any sooner? I suppose you would have to advertise the farm for sale before you could realize anything, and I hardly think that car be accomplished sooner than a week hence."

"The delay is only a subterfuge on your part," said the squire hotly.

"You would be no better prepared at the end of a week than you are now."

"No, perhaps not," said Mrs. Frost quietly.

"And yet you ask me to wait," said the squire indignantly. "Once for all, let me tell you that all entreaties are vain. My mind is made up to foreclose, and foreclose I will."

"Don't be too sure of that," interrupted Frank, with a triumphant smile.

"Ha, young impudence!" exclaimed the squire, wheeling round. "Who's to prevent me, I should like to know?"

"I am," said Frank boldly.

The squire fingered his cane nervously. He was very strongly tempted to lay it on our hero's back. But he reflected that the power was in his hands, and that he was sure of his revenge.

"You won't gain anything by your impudence," he said loftily. "I might have got you a place, out of pity to your mother, if you had behaved differently. I need a boy to do odd jobs about the house, and I might have offered the place to you."

"Thank you for your kind intentions," said Frank, "but I fear the care of this farm will prevent my accepting your tempting offer."

"The care of the farm!" repeated the squire angrily. "Do you think I will delegate it to you?"

"I don't see what you have to do about it," said Frank.

"Then you'll find out," roared the squire. "I shall take immediate possession, and require you to leave at once."

"Then I suppose we had better pay the mortgage, mother," said Frank.