"It was a very mean trick!" said Mrs. Larkin, resentfully.

"Yes, it was; but poor Tom was well punished for it. Why, he's got
a bunch on the back of his head almost as large as a hen's egg."

"I don't pity him," said Mrs. Larkin.

"I pity him, mother, for I don't believe Randolph will repay him
for the service done him. If Randolph had met with the same accident
I am not prepared to say that I should have pitied him much."

"You might have been seriously injured yourself, Luke."

"I might, but I wasn't, so I won't take that into consideration.
However, mother, watch or no watch, I've got a good appetite.
I shall be ready when supper is."

Luke sat down to the table ten minutes afterward and proved his
words good, much to his mother's satisfaction.

While he is eating we will say a word about the cottage. It was
small, containing only four rooms, furnished in the plainest
fashion. The rooms, however, were exceedingly neat, and presented an
appearance of comfort. Yet the united income of Mrs. Larkin and Luke
was very small. Luke received a dollar a week for taking care of the
schoolhouse, but this income only lasted forty weeks in the year.
Then he did odd jobs for the neighbors, and picked up perhaps as
much more. Mrs. Larkin had some skill as a dressmaker, but Groveton
was a small village, and there was another in the same line, so that