Out For Business or Robert Frost's Strange Career. Stratemeyer Edward

visit, mother?" he asked.

      "Yes, very pleasant," answered his mother, with a meaning glance at her companion. "Robert, did you receive my telegram?"

      "Yes, mother."

      "You remember what I said about the great surprise?"

      "Yes, mother."

      "Well, this gentleman is the great surprise," she said, simpering.

      By this time the whole party had entered the house.

      "I don't understand you, mother," said the boy, but a sudden suspicion had entered his mind, and he was afraid that he did understand. He waited in painful suspense for his mother to speak.

      "I have brought you a new father, Robert. This is my husband, Mr. Talbot."

      "Oh, mother!" exclaimed Robert in a grief-stricken tone. "How could you marry again?"

      Mrs. Talbot, for this was now her name, blushed and looked uncomfortable. Her husband looked angry.

      "Really, young man," he said, "it seems to me that is a very improper way of addressing your mother."

      For the first time Robert fixed his eyes upon this man whom he was so suddenly called upon to think of as—not his father, for he could not tolerate the thought—but as his mother's husband. As before mentioned, he was a small-sized man, with black hair and side whiskers, a thin face, aquiline nose, and an expression which, so far from attracting, actually repelled the boy. It was a baleful look, which suggested Mephistopheles, though this well-known character in Faust did not occur to Robert, for he had never heard of him. The boy was not accustomed to regard new acquaintances with repugnance, but this was the feeling with which he regarded Mr. Talbot.

      "I hate you!" he blazed out in sudden fury. "Oh, mother, why did you marry him?"

      This, it must be admitted, was not a very cordial welcome, and the boy's anger was reflected in the face of his new step-father, who bit his nether lip, and glared at our hero with wrathful eyes.

      "You are an impudent cub!" he exclaimed. "I won't forget the way you have received me."

      "Oh, James, forgive him!" pleaded the mother. "He doesn't realize what he says. He will get over it to-morrow."

      "I shall never get over it, mother!" said Robert. "If you must marry again, why at least didn't you marry a gentleman?"

      "I'll get even with you for this, young man!" exclaimed Talbot furiously.

      Mrs. Talbot screamed and sat upon a couch. Robert seized his hat, and without waiting for dinner, dashed out of the house.

      CHAPTER II.

      MR. TALBOT AND THE DOG

      "You didn't tell me what a violent temper your son had," said James Talbot, when Robert had left the house.

      "He has a good temper, James, but I suppose he was taken by surprise."

      "I'll take him by surprise!" said Talbot spitefully. "He'll find out that he has a master."

      "No, James," pleaded Mrs. Talbot. "Remember that he is my son."

      "I will treat him well if he treats me well, not otherwise. He has the temper of a fiend."

      "I am so sorry," said the bride, and she indulged in weak tears. "I looked forward with so much pleasure to this day, and now–"

      "Perhaps you are sorry you married me," said Talbot, biting his mustache.

      "Oh no, not that, but Robert has gone away without his dinner."

      "Serves him right. When he gets hungry enough he will come back."

      "Promise, James, that you will overlook his rudeness."

      James Talbot was silent a moment, and then constrained his harsh features into a smile, which he tried to make pleasant.

      "I will remember that he is your son, Sarah," he said, softening his voice. "It will not be my fault if I do not teach him to like me."

      "Thank you! How good you are!"

      "And now, my love, let me remind you that I am hungry. Won't you order dinner served? Really, I am almost famished."

      "Jane, you may put the dinner on the table," said Mrs. Talbot, looking relieved.

      Jane followed directions.

      "And where is Master Robert, Mrs. Frost—no, I mean Mrs. Talbot?"

      "He has gone out for a short time. If he is not back before long, you may save some dinner for him."

      "That's queer, his going out just as his mother gets back," thought Jane, but she kept silence.

      She looked disapprovingly at the new husband.

      "Sure, he looks like a gorilla," she mused. "How could the mistress marry him when her first husband was such a fine handsome man? I mistrusts he and Master Robert won't get along very well together."

      James Talbot took the place at the head of the table, and began to carve the fowls. Jane noticed that though he helped his wife first, he reserved the nicest portion of the chicken for himself.

      "Sure, he's a selfish beast!" reflected Jane. "If he was a gentleman he wouldn't take all the breast for himself."

      She was right. Talbot was selfish and had always been so. Some men can conceal this trait. He did not try to do so. He did not trouble himself about criticism, as long as he got what he wanted.

      "I wish Robert were here," said Mrs. Talbot plaintively. "I can't be happy, thinking that he is going without his dinner."

      "He'll be all right to-morrow. I'll try to make friends with him."

      "Will you really? It will be so good of you."

      "I always try to be kind and considerate, my love. Your son is very hasty, but he will soon understand me better."

      "Oh, I do hope so."

      After dinner Talbot said: "Now, my love, I wish you would show me over the house—our house," he added with cat-like softness.

      "I shall be so glad to do so."

      They passed out into the hall, and the new husband's attention was drawn to the portrait of Robert's father. He frowned slightly.

      "Who is that?" he asked.

      "It is my first husband."

      James Talbot glanced curiously at the picture. He was displeased to notice that the portrait represented such a handsome man—a man with whom he was not to be compared.

      "He was generally considered a fine-looking man," remarked the bride.

      "Humph! Tastes differ. No doubt he was a good man, but I don't consider him handsome."

      Through the open door Jane heard this remark, and took instant offense, for she had liked Mr. Frost, who was always kind to her.

      "He didn't look a gorilla, as you do," she said to herself, and would like to have said aloud.

      Meanwhile Robert went down to the village. He was the prey of contending emotions. It looked as if all the happiness of their quiet home was gone. This man—this interloper—would spoil it all.

      "How could mother marry him?" he said to himself.

      But in spite of his dissatisfaction, he felt hungry. There was a restaurant in the village, and he turned in there. He felt that on this day at least he could not dine at home.

      He sat down at the table beside Mr. Jameson, a jeweler, and an old friend of the family. The jeweler regarded Robert with surprise.

      "How is it that you don't dine at home?" he asked. "I believe, however, that your mother is away."

      "It isn't that, for Jane prepares the meals."

      "You want a change then?" said Mr. Jameson smiling.

      "No, it isn't that either. Mother has got home," he added bluntly.

      "And you go away at such a time?"

      "I may as well tell you—everybody will know it soon. She has come home with a new husband."

      "You