“But would he do anything for you, Silas?” asked Mrs. Horner, solicitously.
“I saved his life once in the gold mines up there in the frozen North,” explained Silas, quickly. “And as he has made his pile, I fancy Joe Shepard wouldn’t begrudge me the little money needed to keep my soul and body together for the short time I have to live.”
Now Leslie had been noticing that in spite of the cough which Silas gave vent to at times, and his bent attitude, he had rather a sturdy figure.
“Sure that old fellow is putting it on pretty thick for some reason or other,” the boy kept telling himself. “I even believe that cough of his is made up, because he lets it go every once in a while, as if he suddenly remembers a plan he has figured out. Huh! he may pull the wool over the eyes of these simple Horners, but I’ve got my eye on him, you bet. I’ll lay low and watch the sly old fox.”
Grandpop Horner again entered into the conversation at this point. He pounded his cane vigorously on the floor to emphasize his remarks, in a way he had.
“Don’t think of it, my boy,” he said, heartily. “No brother of my daughter-in-law, Polly Horner, is going to beg his way while we’ve got a crust in the larder. You’ll hang your hat on a peg in this house, and be welcome to what little we’ve got.”
“Oh! that’s too much, sir, entirely too much,” remonstrated the other, shaken by some emotion. “But I am tempted to stay with you a day or two until I get a little strength back. Then I can shape my plans, and will perhaps have heard from my old partner in the city. He may send me the money to come to him.”
“Polly, put the kettle on!” sang Grandpop Horner, in his cheery way, “and we will have our tea. The fare is plain, Silas, but so far we have not known real want, though there are many things we have to do without, and my pension doesn’t go as far as I would like.”
The newcomer sat there looking quite happy, Leslie Capes thought as he watched his chum Dick bustling around, bringing in several armfuls of wood, and assisting his mother in various ways.
Now ordinarily, Leslie, being a most accommodating fellow, would have hastened to lend Dick a helping hand. On this special occasion he did nothing of the sort, and for a very good reason.