"Ah," said Christopher under his breath, "so it's Will Fletcher?"

"He's in a jolly scrape this time, an' no mistake," replied Tom.
"He's been leadin' a wild life at the university, it seems, an'
to-day Fletcher got a telegram saying that the boy had been
caught cheatin' in his examinations. The old man left on the next
train, as mad as a hornet, I can tell you. He swore he'd bring
the young scamp back an' put him to the plough. Well, well, thar
are worse dangers than a pretty gal, though Susan won't believe
it."

"Then he'll bring him home?" asked Christopher, blinking in the
sunlight. At the instant it seemed to him that sky and field
whirled rapidly before his eyes, and a strange noise started in
his ears which he found presently to be the throbbing of his
arteries.

"Oh, he's been given a hard push down the wrong road," answered
Tom, "an' it's more than likely he'll never pull up till he gits
clean to the bottom."



CHAPTER VI. The Wages of Folly

Two days later Fletcher's big new carriage crawled over the muddy
road, and Christopher, looking up from his work in the field,
caught a glimpse of the sullen face Will turned on the familiar
landscape. The younger Fletcher had come home evidently nursing a