“Lucy will be very glad to know that we have your full consent to our marriage,” Justin ventured.
“Of course she will; and you, too. It will even please me to have you married as soon as possible. You may live in any of the houses we have bought that will suit you, or a new one can be built.”
He took up the papers again.
“I shall turn the management of the place over to you until I am able to manage it myself. You can consult with Fogg, and I will give you what instructions I can. I hope to be strong enough in another month to ride about, and then I can assist you even more. Fogg thinks it would be well to sell our canal interests and a part of our land to this Eastern man. I agree with him. I think we ought to hold a good deal of the valley land; it’s going to be valuable, when that tunnel is cut. That man will bring in a colony of farmers and gardeners; a good many people can live here, with the aid of the irrigation that can be had from the Warrior River. I want to stay here, in spite of what has happened; and you and Lucy will want to stay here. There isn’t a prettier valley in the state, and it’s our home; and the sale of a part of our land, with the cultivation of the rest of it, and the increase in values, will make us independent.”
He began to read from the papers. To Justin’s surprise they held a list of names of men Davison had wronged and to whom he wished now to make restitution.
“I was over-persuaded in a good many things, and often went with Fogg against my better judgment. But I haven’t anything to say against him. Whatever I did I am willing to shoulder. He is a first-class business man; I admire his ability to make money, and I wanted money, for Ben. These things I have marked here I desire made right, so far as they can be made right. I don’t want you to give away money to anybody. Money isn’t to be shaken out of every tree, except by a man like Fogg. Pay whatever is just, but no more. The names are here, and the amounts. I have been generous in the estimates, and you will have no call to go farther than I have.”
He put the papers in Justin’s hands.
“There; I turn this business, and all the rest of my business, over to you! And you and Lucy may get married as soon as you like. Consult with Fogg concerning the land to be sold.”
The blue eyes smiled from the deep sockets, and the face was softer and more kindly. Already Davison had a higher and more satisfactory opinion of himself.
“You are my son, Justin. I have no other son now; and we will try to be to each other what we ought to have been all these years.”