Willie was very polite for quite a long time after that. He was always offering his chair to Mother or one of the girls, and he was continually asking Mother if she felt a draught, and would she like windows or doors closed? And he actually tried to study at night time to please Miss Gibson. The thought of staying till November pleased him so much.
“I wonder how much money it would take to buy Myall?” he said to Joe, as they were riding round the paddock.
“Pretty near a million, I reckon,” answered Joe.
“A million!” gasped Willie. “Oh, dear!” he groaned. “I’ll never manage it.”
“Was you thinkin’ of buyin’ it?” asked Joe.
“I was wondering if I ever could,” said Willie. “If I went to work and started to save up my money straight away; but, oh, dear! I’ll never manage it. A million’s a terrible lot of money, isn’t it, Joe?”
“I reckon so,” answered Joe. “I wouldn’t like the counting of it.”
“No, ’specially if you were sleepy,” said Willie.
“You take it from me, young man, I wouldn’t be sleepy if I ’ad the ’andlin’ of a million of money. Why, I’d be thinkin’ every noise was a burgular after it. No, old Joe’d be pretty wide awake if ’e ’ad the ’andlin’ of a million of money!”
“Of course I wouldn’t care if I didn’t have a very big place,” went on Willie. “I wouldn’t care if it was just one little paddock on the corner of the creek. As long as it was land and belonged to me, and I could live up here and ride. That’s all I want.”