Up to the last hour he had regarded himself as the heir of the estate.
Now he was only a dependent of a man whom he heartily disliked.
Could it be that this misfortune had come to him through the agency of
his mother?
"I will not believe it!" he exclaimed, energetically.
CHAPTER VI
AN UNSATISFACTORY INTERVIEW
Frank came to a decision the next morning. A long deferred interview
with his stepfather was necessary. Having made up his mind, he entered
the room in which his stepfather sat. His air was manly and his bearing
that of a boy who respects himself, but there was none of the swagger
which some boys think it necessary to exhibit when they wish to assert
their rights.
Mr. Manning, in a flowered dressing gown, sat at a table, with a sheet
of paper before him and a lead pencil in his hand. Short as had been the
interval since his accession to the property, he was figuring up the
probable income he would derive from the estate.
He looked up as Frank entered the room, and surveyed him with cold and
sarcastic eyes. His soft tones were dropped.
"Mr. Manning," said Frank, "I wish to talk to you."
"You may, of course," his stepfather replied mildly.
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