The girl deliberated.
"I don't see that you could have helped it," she said after a pause.
"No, I couldn't," he admitted. "He could have. It was a One Man show. And when the One Man went it was bound to go in time. However, I've let nobody down but myself. And I don't care so much about the stuff."
"No," she said. "You don't want all that. Nobody does; and it's not good for you."
Preacher Joe had bobbed up suddenly in his fair grand-daughter, as he did not seldom. She was deliciously unaware of the old man's presence at her side; but Jim Silver welcomed him as a familiar with lurking laughter.
"Thank you, sir," he said, and touched his hat. Then he covered his daring swiftly. "Except for the horses I wouldn't cuc-care a hang," he said loudly. "They were the only things mum-money gave me."
Gravely she peeped at him again.
"Shall you sell the lot?"
"I shall sell the 'chasers," he answered.
"All but one," she corrected.