“He insisted that he must see the will and that he would take no man’s word for it. I promised him that I would bring it with me for his satisfaction, and Jimmy has intrusted it to me. It will be all right in time. I shall not show it to him except in the presence of witnesses. There may be some trouble about getting possession, for Muirhead, on account of his long residence out here, has been able to gather about him rather a lawless set of followers, and they may try to do something to prevent peaceable possession; but in the end there must be enough of your friends to see justice done. You have not come to a very law-abiding neighborhood, so far as these backwoodsmen are concerned, Mrs. Kennedy, but the country is settling up very fast, and there are enough men of good standing here now who will not allow any irregularities.”
“Every one is very kind; I never knew such hospitality. We have had offers of help from near and far, and a score of homes are open to us. In time I know we shall be very happy here, though at first one naturally misses some things.”
“Yes,” Parker nodded in response. “One misses a great many things; I felt so; but it is a great country, after all, and there are better chances here than at home; that is plain to be seen by the way the people are flocking from the east and south. I should not be surprised if we would soon become a state.”
“It certainly seems as if a lot of people were coming,” Agnes ventured to say. “I hardly ever go to the M’Cleans’ but I hear of new arrivals, and every day we see the broads go by on the river. Ah, yes, we were wise to come, mother.”
Her mother wondered if it were so, as she saw the light that had gathered in her girl’s eyes since this young man had come in. He was a gentleman, surely, just such as might win the heart of a trusting little lass, but she must be watchful lest the child should come to have heartache.
“I have a bit of a cabin started, and will be at home very shortly,” the young man told them in answer to their questions, “and in the meantime I shall stay at Dod Hunter’s. Jerry and the other boys are helping me, and I shall soon be having my own fireside.”
“An’ you’ll be invitin’ us over to sup,” said Polly, who had joined them.
“Yes, if you will cook the supper, I’ll provide anything you say, and we can have a little housewarming that will suit the size of the house.”
“Deed, an’ I’ll cook annything, an’ we’ll show Mrs. Kennedy how a clearin’ looks before it’s cleared. Will ye be takin’ yer belongin’s this trip?”
“I may as well; I’ve not much of a bundle, but I’ve trespassed upon your space long enough.”