Quackinboss, equally deep in his own speculations, proceeded to give an account of the mode of inquiry pursued by Frenchmen of science in cases of poisoning, which certainly would have astonished M. Orfila, and was only brought back from this learned disquisition by Layton's questioning him about “Peddar's Clearings.”
“Yes, sir,” said he, “it is con-siderable of a tract, and lies between two rivers. There 's the lines for a new city—Pentacolis—laid down there; and the chief town, 'Measles,' is a thriving location. My cousin, O. B. Quackinboss, did n't stump out less than eighty dollars an acre for his clearin', and there's better land than his there.”
“So far as appears, then, this is an extensive property which is spoken of here?”
“Well, sir, I expect it's a matter of half a million of dollars now, though, mayhap, twenty thousand bought it fifteen or sixteen years back.”
“I wonder what steps my father took in this affair? I 'll be very curious to know if he interested himself in the matter; for, with his indolent habits, it is just as likely that he never moved in it further.”
“A 'tarnal shame, then, for him, sir, when it was for a child left alone and friendless in the world; and I'm thinkin' indolence ain't the name to give it.”
For a moment an angry impulse to reply stirred Layton's blood, but he refrained, and said nothing.
“I'll go further,” resumed the American, “and I'll say that if your father did neglect this duty, you are bound to look to it. Ay, sir, there ain't no ways in this world of getting out of what we owe one to another. We are most of us ready enough to be 'generous,' but few take trouble to be 'just.'”
“I believe you are right,” said Layton, reflectively.
“I know it, sir,—I know it,” said the other, resolutely. “There's a sort of flattery in doing something more than we are obliged to do which never comes of doing what is strict fair. Ay,” added he, after a moment, “and I 've seen a man who 'd jump into the sea to save a fellow-creature as would n't give a cent to a starving beggar on dry land.”