“Perhaps it’s just as you say,” continued the other, “but there’s something about old Uncle Silas that seems to appeal to me. I like the look in his mild blue eyes. He may have been an adventurer all his life, but for all that, Leslie, let me tell you he’s a lovable old fellow, say what you will.”
“Whee! he certainly has cast a spell over you folks for a fact!” declared the other, shrugging his shoulders as though almost ready to despair of Dick.
“I guess he has,” admitted Dick, “for mother has taken to him even more than I have. And as for grandpop, he loves to sit and listen to Uncle Silas telling of the dozens and dozens of strange things he’s run across.”
“Birds of a feather flock together, they say, Dick,” chuckled Leslie; “and now your fine old grandfather can exchange stories with another who has seen a lot of lively times. But for all you say, I still hang on to my suspicions, and believe he’s either an impostor, not your uncle at all, or else that he’s just bent on settling down on your folks to be fed and housed for the rest of his natural life.”
“All you can say isn’t going to convince me,” Dick told him. “Once or twice in the beginning I admit I did begin to lean that way, but I’ve been ashamed of feeling suspicious.”
“Oh! well, let it pass,” ventured Leslie. “‘Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise,’ they say; and if you’re happy in believing all that old chap stuffs into your ears why keep on being so, Dick. Only, as your friend, I’ve felt it my duty to warn you, that’s all.”
“If you want to find guilt it’s easy to explain every look or chuckle or action that way,” Dick went on. “As for me I have come to put considerable confidence in Uncle Silas. I’m awful sorry he’s had such hard luck; and I feel sure he won’t think of staying with us right along, so as to be a burden.”
“But I heard your mother say only a few days ago, Dick, that if only she had a little more ready cash to meet expenses, he should never quit her house.”
“That’s right,” quickly asserted the other, proudly. “Her heart is as big as a bushel basket. It’s one of the Horner traits, or weak points, I guess.”
“Sure, and you’re a Horner in the bargain,” said Leslie.