“Mr. Steele will go right ahead with this, I know,” said Tom, nodding. “He’s taken a fancy to those kids——”
“Well! he ought to, to Sadie!” cried Ruth.
“Sure. And he’s a generous man, after all. Too bad he’s taken such a dislike to old Caslon.”
“Oh, dear, Tom! we ought to fix that,” sighed Ruth.
“Crickey! you’d tackle any job in the world, I believe, Ruthie, if you thought you could help folks.”
“Nonsense! But both of them—both Mr. Steele and Mr. Caslon—are such awfully nice people——”
“Well! there’s not much hope, I guess. Mr. Steele’s lawyer is trying to find a flaw in Caslon’s title. It seems that, way back, a long time ago, some of the Caslons got poor, or careless, and the farm was sold for taxes. It was never properly straightened out—on the county records, anyway—and the lawyer is trying to see if he can’t buy up the interest of whoever bought the farm in at that time—or their heirs—and so have some kind of a basis for a suit against old Caslon.”
“Goodness! that’s not very clear,” said Ruth, staring.
“No. It’s pretty muddy. But you know how some lawyers are. And Mr. Steele is willing to hire the shyster to do it. He thinks it’s all right. It’s business.”