She took the money and the paper with trembling hands.
“Well, ain’t thet all?” he asked, seeing that she still lingered.
“No, it is not all,” she cried impulsively. “I want to tell you something of the great good you’re doing—of how I feel about it.”
“Not a word,” he said sternly. “It’s business, I tell y’.”
“Business!” she echoed. “I suppose all the rest was business, too—the food for the miners’ families when they were starving, the—”
“Stop!” he interrupted fiercely. “D’ y’ want t’ spile my smoke?”
“I see through you!” she cried. “I know you! Be just as cross as you like; I can see the soft, warm heart beating under it all.”
He sprang from his chair as though to run away; but she caught him by the shoulders, pressed him back into it, printed a swift kiss on his forehead, and fled, leaving him staring bewilderedly at the hillside.
She gave Tommy the note next morning and asked him to sign it, telling him, too, of Jabez Smith’s kindness, and that he must make no effort at present to show his gratitude—that could come later. What his thoughts were she could only guess, for after he had signed, he sat for a long time, looking straight before him with eyes that saw nothing, and with lips held tight together to keep them from trembling.
Every period of waiting must have an end, and the day of departure came at last. Word of this new and wonderful venture into the unknown world had got about among the cabins, and quite a crowd gathered at the station to see him off. Opinion was divided as to the wisdom of the enterprise. Some thought it foolish. Others regarded it with a kind of awe. But all looked with interest at the little procession which presently emerged from the Remington cabin and came slowly down the path.