"I on'y got one eye, but my ears is first-rate. Mebbe I orter keep my big mouth shut, but I figger yuh orter know that yer Uncle Bryant is up tuh somethin'."
"Uncle Bryant?" Penny's tone showed her surprise. She knew that Gimlet was one friend upon whom she could count. The old cook had dandled her on his knee when as a child she had come to live in the Basin. She listened eagerly.
"Heard him talkin' tuh that no-good, gambling smooth-talkin' hombre named Lonergan," said Gimlet.
Penny remembered that Lonergan had called the night before. Bryant had taken him upstairs, behind closed doors.
"Curiosity has allus been my trouble, an' when I heard talkin' between them two, I didn't shut my ears none. Couldn't git much o' what uz said, but the two of 'em was workin' over some sort o' legal paper."
"What about it?" asked Penny. "Uncle Bryant has a right to make a contract or agreement with someone."
"Wal, all's I know is that I heard Bryant ask Lonergan if he was dead sure the paper'd stand in court after he was dead and gone."
Penny wanted to laugh at Gimlet's obvious concern over what was probably a will. His seriousness, however, impressed her.
"That ain't all," said the old man. "I heard more. I heard Bryant sayin' he wanted tuh leave what he owned tuh them that deserved it, an' he didn't want none of his damned relatives contestin' the will in court o' law."