His whistling died shrilly into silence in the wintry distance, and then at last Hiram came stumbling out from the hedge. His face had never looked before as it looked then.
IX
Hiram was standing in front of the fire with his hands clasped behind his back. He had not touched the supper on the table. Levi was eating with an appetite. Suddenly he looked over his plate at his stepbrother.
"How about that five hundred pounds, Hiram?" said he. "I gave ye a month to raise it and the month ain't quite up yet, but I'm goin' to leave this here place day after to-morrow--by next day at the furd'st--and I want the money that's mine."
"I paid it to Squire Hall to-day and he has it fer ye," said Hiram, dully.
Levi laid down his knife and fork with a clatter. "Squire Hall!" said he, "what's Squire
