SATISFYING THE MORTGAGE
While Darry was gurgling with laughter, still clutching the fragment of coat and the precious pocket-book, he felt a hand seize his arm.
Looking up he saw the puzzled and anxious face of Abner's wife.
"What ails you, boy? Did they injure you more than you told me?" she asked, as if fearful that he were going out of his mind.
To the further astonishment of the good woman the boy climbed to his feet, suddenly threw his arms around her neck and gave her a vigorous hug.
"It's all right, mother, after all; they didn't get it!" he exclaimed.
"What's all right? I don't understand at all," she replied, looking at the dirty strip of cloth he was holding, and the pocket-book as well.
"Why, what do you think, while we were struggling there on the road, with me underneath part of the time, that sneak thief, Sim Clark, managed to steal my pocket-book out of my inner pocket. That was what made me seem so blue, for I had something in it I meant to show you. But when he tried to run away I held on and part of his coat ripped away. I stuck it in my pocket, thinking Hank would like to see it as evidence, and when I took it out here, don't you see I found what I had lost in Sim's pocket! Did you ever hear of such luck in your born days."
Mrs. Peake herself laughed.
"You do seem to be a fortunate boy. And they would have robbed you of what little you have. I'm glad you got it back, and I'm determined to see Hank Squires to-morrow about this thing. It has gone far enough."
"But I've got something else to tell you. Come and sit down where we can talk," he continued, feeling happier than ever before in all his life, for he knew he was in a condition to chase away the clouds that had been bringing anxiety to her mind for months.
So he told first of all about his visit to the hardware man, and how he obtained fourteen dollars for his muskrat skins.
After that came the call upon the lawyer and what followed in connection with his offer to pay the interest due, and how Mr. Quarles had absolutely refused to accommodate him.
Nancy sighed as she heard what the cold, grasping man of law had said about settling old scores.
Perhaps she was sorry now she had given him such cause for hatred; but better the life she had led than one as the wife of a cruel money shark of his breed.
From this Darry soon branched out and spoke of his trip to the shore, and how on his return a kindly fate had allowed him to be of material assistance to the very young man with whom he expected to spend the winter on his launch.
Mrs. Peake began to listen more eagerly now, for she surmised that something of a pleasant nature was coming.
When Darry finally placed the money in her hand, she looked at it in bewilderment, never having touched so much at one time in all her life; then she turned her tear-stained eyes upon him, and drawing him into her motherly arms kissed him again and again.
And Darry never felt so well repaid for any action of his life as that.
There was sunshine in the Peake house the balance of that day, even though the weather without was dark and overcast, for light hearts carry an atmosphere of their own that does not depend upon outside influences.
The woman would not hear of Darry's going to see the lawyer that night.
Something might happen to him again, with those malicious boys still at large, and it would be wiser she thought, to wait until morning, when the two of them could take the money to Darius Quarles and satisfy the mortgage.
Besides, Nancy thought she would like to see what the money-lender looked like when finding his plans frustrated so neatly.
"Thank goodness that relative of his will have to wait some time before this house falls into his clutches," she remarked, for the fourth time, since it was impossible, just then, to talk about anything else.
So when another day dawned, while the weather was still heavy they walked to the village and astonished the lawyer by appearing in his office soon after his arrival.
Supposing that Nancy had come to beg for more time, he set his face in its hardest lines, even though pretending to be sympathetic—times were out of joint, collections difficult to make, and he absolutely needed every cent he could scrape together in order to meet his obligations—that was the way he put it, when she announced she had come in relation to the mortgage.
"Then I suppose you will be glad to receive this money, Darius, and return the mortgage canceled to me. And you can be sure that Abner will never trouble you in the same way again," she said, thrusting the full sum, with interest toward him.
He slowly counted it, and found that every cent, as he had written it down for Darry, was there.
"Ahem! this is an unexpected pleasure, Nancy. I congratulate you, indeed I do, on your success in finding someone to take over the mortgage," he stammered, as his face turned from red to white, and his little eyes glittered.
"You are mistaken. There will be no mortgage on my home after this. The money has been earned by this brave boy here, not borrowed," she said, coldly.
This caused him to look at Darry, and his mouth told that he was gritting his teeth wrathfully.
"Ah! yes, indeed, truly a remarkable boy. What has he been doing now—taking the rats of the swamp by wholesale, I presume? Let me see, only yesterday he had sold twenty-six skins for fourteen dollars, and now a hundred dollar bill follows. It is amazing. Pardon me if I doubt my eyes. I suppose the bill is a good one?"
"We will wait here until you go and find out. You might ask Mr. Paul Singleton, who has a little launch down at the docks, and is a member of the club above," replied Mrs. Peake, with stinging emphasis.
"Did Mr. Singleton give him this money?" demanded the lawyer, suddenly.
"He did, for saving his launch out in the bay yesterday. And what is more, Darry expects to cruise with him the balance of the winter. He has taken a great fancy for my boy. You can find him easily if you wish to ask him about this."
It was wonderful how quickly the lawyer changed his manner.
He knew who Paul Singleton was, and what wealth he represented in the exclusive sporting club near Ashley.
"That alters the complexion of the whole thing. Now I congratulate Darry on his good fortune in making such a good, easy friend. Of course the bill must be all right if Paul Singleton gave it to him. I will immediately attend to the mortgage for you, and also see that it is satisfied on the books at the county office. Meanwhile I shall write you out a receipt in full, showing that it has been paid."
Mrs. Peake said nothing more.
She felt the utmost contempt for this man, and having been enabled to defeat his scheme for humiliating herself and husband, wished to remain in his company no longer than was absolutely necessary.
So she and Darry presently went forth, and how pure even the stormy atmosphere seemed after being for half an hour in that spider's web of a lawyer's den.
On the strength of the improved prospects Mrs. Peake felt that she was privileged to spend a portion of the small sum of money she had been hoarding against paying the interest, though as it had not amounted to the full sum she had not dared approach Darius with an offer.
Mr. Keeler, being a good friend of the Peakes, and inclined to be hostile to the lawyer, she naturally confided her late troubles to his sympathetic ear, feeling that she could not keep silent.
He shook the hand of the boy with sincerity, and declared that it was a great day for Abner and his brood when the surf man helped to pull the cabin boy of the Falcon out of the sea.
Being a modest lad, Darry escaped as soon as he could, and waited around until Mrs. Peake was ready to go home, when he showed up to carry her parcels.
The family feasted that night most royally.
Darry himself had purchased a steak in the store as his donation, and this was a luxury the little Peakes seldom knew.
Ducks and fish were all very well, together with oysters, when they could get them; but after all there was a sameness in the diet that rather palled on the appetite, and that beefsteak with onions did smell mighty fine, as even the good cook admitted.
The future looked very rosy to both Darry and Abner's wife.
When the latter heard what Paul Singleton had said about getting some place for the life saver ashore, where he could be with his family right along, the poor woman broke down and sobbed; but it was joy that caused the tears to flow, and Darry felt his own eyes grow wet as he realized how she must have suffered while compelled to live in this mean way.
Nancy having been a teacher had looked to better things, no doubt; but Abner thus far had lacked the ability to provide them for his family. Now, however, the current had changed.
"And to think it all comes through you, boy. God sent you to us, I believe, just when things were at the worst. How different it looks now. I am the happiest woman in Ashley this night," she declared, and it seemed as though she could hardly take her beaming eyes off his face during that whole evening as they sat and built air castles for the future.
It can be set down as certain that Darry found it hard to get to sleep after so much excitement. Long he lay there and went over all the recent experiences, to wonder again and again why Providence was so good to him, the waif who had until the last few years known only cuffs and trouble.
The morning showed no improvement in the weather, for which Darry was sorry, because he wished to cross the sound in order to carry the glorious news to Abner and relieve his mind of the worry that must even now fill it.
And as the prospect was that even worse weather might follow before it would improve he determined to go, though Mrs. Peake was rather loth to grant permission.