CHAPTER XXXI.
THE TRIAL CONCLUDED.
I do not know how much interest the "gentle reader" may feel in Bud.

But I venture to hope that there are some Buddhists among my readers who will wish the contradictoriness of his actions explained.

The first dash of disappointment had well-nigh upset him.

And when a man concludes to throw overboard his good resolutions, he always seeks to avoid the witness of those resolutions.

Hence Bud, after that distressful Tuesday evening on which Miss Martha had given him "the sack," wished to see Ralph less than any one else.