"I'll find part of it in the meantime, and there is the profit on the campaign fund you raised," he said. "You needn't be bashful, gentlemen. I'm a business man, and will have no objection to charging you three or four per cent. more interest than the banks. It will, considering the prospects, be money sunk on good security. Now that we have got our stumbling block out of the way, I see possibilities for this district, and am presently going to ask you to form a committee to consider whether we can't put up a small flour mill or coöperative dairy."
He proceeded to sketch out a project with a vigor of conception and a grasp of practical details that astonished the listeners, who presently departed with sincere, if not very neatly expressed, gratitude, and with hope and exultation in their weather-darkened faces. I tried to express my own sentiments and, I believe, failed, but Haldane smiled quaintly.
"Don't make any mistake, Ormesby. I'm not setting up as a public benefactor," he said. "One can't do absolutely nothing, and I don't quite see why I shouldn't earn a few honest dollars where I can. I dare say the others will profit, and I should prefer them as friends rather than enemies; but this scheme is going to pay me—in fact, as you say here—it has just got to."
CHAPTER XXIX
THE EXIT OF LANE
Early one evening, after Lane's capitulation, I sat in the hall at Bonaventure waiting its owner's return. Lucille Haldane occupied the window-seat opposite me, embroidering with an assiduity which, while slightly irritating, did not altogether displease me. Since the wagon accident she had, in an indefinite manner, been less cordial, and I, on my part, was conscious of an unwonted restraint in her presence. It is unnecessary to say that she made a pretty picture with the square of still sunlit prairie behind her, though her face was tantalizingly hidden in shadow, and I could only admire the graceful pose of her figure and the lissom play of the little white fingers across the embroidery. The girl must have been sensible of my furtive regards, for at last she laid down the sewing and looked up sharply.
"Is there nothing among all those papers worth your attention, or have you taken an interest in embroidery?" she asked, pointing to the littered journals on the table. "Do you know that it is a little disconcerting to be watched when at work?"
I was uneasily conscious that my forehead grew hot, but hoped the hue that wind and sun had set upon it would hide the fact. "Don't you think the trespass was almost justifiable?" I said. "You are responsible for spoiling us; and unaccustomed prosperity must be commencing to make me lazy. I was thinking."
"That is really interesting," said the girl. "Has sudden prosperity also rendered you incapable of expressing your thoughts in speech?"
In this case, circumstances had certainly done so. I had been thinking how pretty and desirable the speaker looked; but the trouble was that, although silence cost me an effort, I could not tell her so. I hoped to say as much, and more besides, some day; but this moment was not opportune. Lucille Haldane was mistress of Bonaventure, and I as yet a struggling man, who, thanks to her good nature and her father's business skill, had barely escaped sinking into poverty. It would be time to speak when my position was a little more secure. Meanwhile, in spite of the sternly repressed longing and uncertainty which daily grew more painful, it was very pleasant to bask in the sunshine of her presence, and I dare not risk ending the privilege prematurely.