He spoke with an easy familiarity that made it difficult not to respond with equal frank cordiality, and there was a shrewd expression upon his wrinkled, smooth-shaven face that stamped him a man who had seen life in many of its phases.
Kenneth, who resented the companionship of most people, seemed attracted by the man, and hesitated to gallop on and leave him.
"Know Jane Merrick ?" asked the stranger.
The boy nodded.
"Like her ?" "I hate her," he said, savagely.
The man laughed, a bit uneasily.
"Then it's the same Jane as ever," he responded, with a shake of his grizzled head.

"Do you know, I sort o' hoped she'd reformed, and I'd be glad to see her again.

They tell me she's got money." The boy looked at him in surprise.
"She owns Elmhurst, and has mortgages on a dozen farms around here, and property in New York, and thousands of dollars in the bank," he said.

"Aunt Jane's rich." "Aunt Jane ?" echoed the man, quickly.

"What's your name, lad ?" "Kenneth Forbes." A shake of the head.
"Don't recollect any Forbeses in the family." "She isn't really my aunt," said the boy, "and she doesn't treat me as an aunt, either; but she's my guardian, and I've always called her Aunt, rather than say Miss Merrick." "She's never married, has she ?" "No.