And if you put upon this boy again you'll have to reckon with Dainton
and me. He's under Dainton's care, anyhow, and you haven't heard the
last of this, I can tell you."
For the time Whatman and the other men were silenced, but Dick had a
black eye, as the result of the blow, and the reason had to be told
when he went to Mr. Dainton's that evening to tea.
For Teddy had come home from his visit to the country, and Dick was
eager to see the brother of whom little Nellie talked so much.
He was a fun-loving urchin who never spent a minute more over his
lessons than he could possibly help, and was only clever in getting
into mischief and, at Dick's age, was far behind him in learning.
In his frequent visits to his grandmother's farm he had been allowed
too much of his own way, and his father grumbled and threatened to stop
this spoiling, by keeping him at home.
To ride, bare backed, the farm colts and to go fishing and birds'
nesting at all hours was far more pleasant than sitting at a school
desk and bothering one's head with fractions, and over the tea table he
spoke his mind.
"You won't catch me going into the sheds, father, when I leave school.
I'm going to be a farmer and ride on horseback all day long."
"You'll be a poor farmer at that rate, Ted," his mother said quietly.
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