"I don't know about that. Whatever concerns you, concerns me deeply, ducky!"
"Will you give me that hat?" persisted Sally.
"You fear it will be recognized?" ventured the Squire, and the girl winced under the words. "Well, it will be, before I've done with it. Of course I know it's that rascally Milt's hat," added the Squire shrewdly following up the clue the girl's manner and request had given him. "Haven't I seen him wear it, time and again? He had it on Court day," hazarded the speaker.
He noted the quick start his companion gave, and the look of fear that overspread her face and crept into her eyes. A sudden thought occurred to him. He was now in a better position to strike a bargain than he soon would be again.
"Now, suppose we put this matter on a strictly business footing," he said blandly. "You want the hat and I want a wife. A fair exchange is no robbery."
"Don't say that!" exclaimed Sally, as though a sharp pain had suddenly entered her heart. "You are cruel!"
"Not in the least!" retorted the Squire. "It's you that's cruel, my dear! You have it in your power to make me the happiest of men, and incidentally keep a friend of yours out of the penitentiary. The whole matter rests with you."
The girl made no answer.
"The case stands thus," he persisted. "If my nephew is a lawbreaker, he deserves punishment. As I am president of this road, and a large stockholder, too, and he's doing his utmost to injure and destroy my property, I fail to see why I should show him any sympathy or favor. If I do, it will be solely on your account, not his. It's up to you whether Milt goes free or is punished."
"On just what conditions will you let him go free?" asked the girl quickly.