Joe was a little dazed by the quickness of it all, and there were many questions running through his mind. Somehow the manner of Mr. Holdney--the message he had started to ask Joe to deliver by word of mouth, his apparent refusal of something Mr. Matson had evidently asked him to do--all made Joe vaguely uneasy. He connected it with his father's nervousness the night before and with his mother's anxiety.