“Don’t tell anything you don’t want to—”
“But that man will tell. That terrible Trask man.”
Lockwood didn’t waver in his fealty or loyalty but it was a blow to learn that Trask knew something of Anita’s secrets.
“I don’t care,” he said, firmly, “I love you.”
CHAPTER XIV
A PROPOSAL
Maurice Trask took up his reins of government with a firm hand. He left all housekeeping and domestic matters to Mrs. Peyton, but the business affairs of Doctor Waring, he concluded to clean up as rapidly as possible.
“It’s astonishing,” he said to Lockwood, “what a lot of varied interests my cousin had. This morning’s mail brings all sorts of things from Rare Book Catalogues to Mining Prospectuses. By the way, I think I shall have an auction of his rare books. Such things don’t interest me, and I believe they have a big money value.”
“Some of them have,” Lockwood returned, indifferently.
He could not bring himself to like his new employer, but as he had agreed to stay with him for a time, he did his best to meet requirements.
“Take this lot, now,” and Trask indicated a bookcase full of old volumes of the classics. “They mean nothing to me—I can’t read Latin or Greek, and wouldn’t if I could. My good heavens! Look at this one!”