“For Sale—One band waggon, one swan chariot, three lion cages, one round-top——”
He was interrupted.
Squire Phin came up the little path from the road and took a seat on the porch.
Hiram bent his brows in a scowl and looked at him, pencil poised above the paper.
“I’ll make my business brief, brother,” said the lawyer, with a wistful humility that pricked Hiram a bit, despite his rancour. “I realise how you feel toward me, and I have not come upon your porch without good reason. You may not have noticed that I have been away for a day or two, for you haven’t been very much interested in my movements for some time. But I have been absent. I’ve been at the shire on some law business.
“One of my friends who is a trustee in the Union Savings Bank mentioned to me that one Simon Peak, accompanied by a strange woman, had drawn ten thousand dollars on your order, after having been identified by one of the traders near by. I was inter-: ested enough to want to see that order, and——”
“Say, ain’t I got any bus’ness of any kind that I can ’tend to myself without some one pokin’ in their nose?” demanded Hiram with fury.
“I plead guilty to being a meddler, Hiram,” returned the Squire calmly. “But I’ve taken the chances. I figured you could not dislike me any more for doing this than you did before. And whatever else we are, you are my brother, and Simon Peak is a man of whom I have always been distrustful. I saw that the amount in the order had been filled in by some one else than yourself. I didn’t know then what deal you could have with Peak. I don’t know now, for I didn’t believe a word of the yarn he told me—-but the amount of the matter is, Hiram, I took measures to have Peak and his companion followed and apprehended. I interviewed them privately; I made them disgorge, and here is your money—all except a couple of hundred dollars. I gave them that much and the team so that they could get out of the State and not annoy you any more. You’ll not see them again. I told them that I’d put the two of them into State prison as blackmailers if they showed up here.”
He laid a thick wallet upon his brother’s lap.
“If I have meddled in your affairs, brother, forgive me. But I couldn’t stand by and see two thieves run away with what you have worked so hard to earn.”