I juggled the skull on my knee and pondered awhile before I said anything, and she was silent, too, evidently trying to get control of her emotions.
“I want to say this to you, Miss Kingsley. The Sort-well boys gave me some news of the home town and they told me that my uncle was after your father in bitter fashion. That’s one reason why I have hurried up here. I don’t know just what I can do with my uncle, but I’ll truly do my best.”
We had come into the edge of the village and had passed the first houses.
“I put my trust in you,” she said, gently. “I always knew you had good impulses in you. I remember our talk that day on Purgatory Hill. And I know you kept your promise you gave to me then. You did your best to make the boys good.”
“And I’ll do my best to make my uncle good.”
“I do hope your business will not call you away until you have straightened matters out. Oh, you asked about the price of the wood-lot! Does it mean that you expect to have some business with father?”
I had not given another thought to the wood-lot since I had used it for an excuse in an emergency. I did not see at that moment how I could use a wood-lot for anything else than that excuse.
“If only you could have some business with my father—it would smooth things so much for all of us, perhaps,” she pleaded.
“We’ll see what can be done,” I assured her. “This syndicate—this combination—a very large concern,” I floundered on, trying to think up some sort of a plausible lie to account for my interest in a wood-lot, “it’s—er—ah!—you see, I can’t give out much information locally because we do so many kinds of business—it’s all linked up—it’s necessary to move carefully, but I think I’ll tell you this much, confidentially, just between ourselves!” Again my hankering to have some sort of a secret between Celene Kingsley and myself! “One branch of our business is building all the tall brick chimneys in the eastern part of the country. We use millions of bricks and so we need a great deal of wood for burning the bricks. So that’s why, maybe, I can pay your father’s price for the wood-lot. Now you understand!” I ended up with a lot of relief, for I had to dive pretty deep for that lie.
“I do see, and I’m glad there’s a prospect you’ll stay in town. And then, too, there’s your ankle to nurse!”