"
"If he don't alter," Ellen declared, looking back from the door, "you'll
find him here one day by Carter Patterson's, with a label around his
neck. I'm not one for keeping children about the place that know more
than their mothers. I give him another three weeks, and not a day
longer. What do you think was the last thing he did? Went and had his
hair cut--wanted to get rid of his curl, he said."
"I can't blame him for that," Burton remarked, smiling. "I never
thought it becoming. Will you shake hands, Ellen, before you go?"
"I won't!" she replied, drawing up her skirt in genteel fashion. "I
want nothing to do with you. Only, if he don't alter, well, just you
look out, for you'll find him on your doorstep."
She departed in a "Lily of the Valley" scent and little fragments of
purple fluff. Burton threw himself into an easy-chair.
"If one could only find the tree," he muttered to himself. "What a
life for the boy! Poor little chap!"
CHAPTER XXI
AN AMAZING TRANSFORMATION
The novel which was to bring immortal fame and, incidentally, freedom
from all financial responsibilities, to Burton, came back within a week,
with a polite note which he was at first inclined to accept as some
consolation until he found that it was stereotyped.
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