The son of a hunks, he was still a hunks at heart, incapable of true generosity and consideration; but he had other qualities with which Frank could divert himself in the meanwhile, and to enjoy which it was necessary that Frank should keep his temper.
So excellently was it controlled that he awoke next morning with his head full of a different, though a cognate subject.

What was Archie's little game?
Why did he shun Frank's company?
What was he keeping secret?
Was he keeping tryst with somebody, and was it a woman?
It would be a good joke and a fair revenge to discover.

To that task he set himself with a great deal of patience, which might have surprised his friends, for he had been always credited not with patience so much as brilliancy; and little by little, from one point to another, he at last succeeded in piecing out the situation.

First he remarked that, although Archie set out in all the directions of the compass, he always came home again from some point between the south and west.

From the study of a map, and in consideration of the great expanse of untenanted moorland running in that direction towards the sources of the Clyde, he laid his finger on Cauldstaneslap and two other neighbouring farms, Kingsmuirs and Polintarf.