"I should say not! You can give it to me, if you want to," laughed
Kent.
"But don't you see how I feel?" cried Lydia. "Don't you see that all John Levine's lands up there are haunted by death—his own—and all the starving Indians? Oh, why did he do this to me!"
"I suppose you feel the same way about the cottage," said Amos, sarcastically.
"I don't either," contradicted Lydia. "I'm as happy as I can be that we've got that. But all the rest! I won't have it, I tell you! I'd rather be poverty stricken all my life."
"Well, don't worry too much about that," said Kent. "Dave Marshall thinks there won't be anything left after the estate is settled, but the Indian lands."
"Oh, Kent, you aren't having anything to do with Dave Marshall, are you?" exclaimed Lydia.
Kent flushed a little. "Well, his advice can't hurt me. If it's bad,
I don't have to take it. You ought to go out and see his farm, Lydia.
They're getting the house all fitted with modern conveniences. Dave's
going to make a model stock farm."
"Bought with money earned by the Last Chance!" said Lydia.
"You can't be so darned squeamish about where a man gets his money these days, Lyd. Of course, there was no excuse for the Last Chance. But Dave's done what he could about it."
Lydia made no reply and Kent looked at her quizzically. "A New England conscience must be something awful to own, eh, Lyd?"