“Oughter had better sense,” said Bud. “They tell me you’re settin’ up to be a family man.”
“How’d ye hear that?” asked Cyrus quickly.
“Louisa was just tellin’ us.”
“Well now, ain’t I in luck? ’Tain’t every man can have a smart darter come down from the States to housekeep for him and he have nothin’ to pay for her comin’.”
“No, ’tain’t every man lucky enough not to ever pay out nothin’ fer fetchin’ up his flesh and blood and after she’s riz up good and respectable to hev the benefit of what she’s larnt. I should call it nothin’ but bald luck,” said Bud.
“Ye certainly can’t call it nothin’ else,” put in Ira. “Now if things was to go by deserts ye never would hev found her out.”
Cyrus looked from one to the other frowning. Just how much they knew and how much they suspected he could not discover, but his rôle was that of the fond father and he was bound to play his part. “Well, all is, Providence put her in the way of findin’ her dad,” he said pleasantly. “I tell ye, boys, ye’ll never know a father’s feelings till ye hev darters of yer own.”
“Providence! Providence!” Ira roared with laughter. “A gal that kin cook like Louisa kin, needin’ Providence to put her in the way of an old shark like Cy Sparks, is a good un.”
“You better go get your things.” Cyrus turned to Louisa with an air of proprietorship that annoyed Ira, and he followed the girl into the house under pretext of wanting to speak to Alison.
“Look a-here, Lou,” he said as he overtook her in the kitchen, “if anything goes wrong I want ye to feel ye kin call on yer friends. Nobody kin tell in this world how things is goin’ to turn out and you may need a friend when ye git away from here; if ye do, I’m ready to stand by ye. Jest give me half a chanst and I’ll fight fer ye down to the soles of my boots. All ye’ve got to do is to send me a stran’ o’ that red ha’r of yourn an’ I’ll come a bilin’.” In such knightly language did Ira proffer his service to his lady-love.