“She's too grand for anybody, Rod. There isn't a man alive that's worthy to strap on her skates.”
“Well, she's too grand for anybody except—” and here Rod's shy, wistful voice trailed off into discreet silence.
“Now I had some talk with Patty, and she thinks Waitstill will have no trouble with her father just at present. She says he lavished so much rage upon her that there'll be none left for anybody else for a day or two. And, moreover, that he will never dare to go too far with Waitstill, because she's so useful to him. I'm not afraid of his beating or injuring her so long as he keeps his sober senses, if he's ever rightly had any; but I don't like to think of his upbraiding her and breaking her heart with his cruel talk just after she's lost the sister that's been her only companion.” And Ivory's hand trembled as he filled his pipe. He had no confidant but this quaint, tender-hearted, old-fashioned little lad, to whom he had grown to speak his mind as if he were a man of his own age; and Rod, in the same way, had gradually learned to understand and sympathize.
“It's dreadful lonesome on Town-House Hill,” said the boy in a hushed tone.
“Dreadful lonesome,” echoed Ivory with a sigh; “and I don't dare leave mother until her fever dies down a bit and she sleeps. Now do you remember the night that she was taken ill, and we shared the watch?”
Rodman held his breath. “Do you mean you 're going to let me help just as if I was big?” he asked, speaking through a great lump in his throat.
“There are only two of us, Rod. You're rather young for this piece of work, but you're trusty—you 're trusty!”
“Am I to keep watch on the Deacon?”
“That's it, and this is my plan: Nick will have had his feed; you 're to drive to the bridge when it gets a little darker and hitch in Uncle Bart's horse-shed, covering Nick well. You're to go into the brick store, and while you're getting some groceries wrapped up, listen to anything the men say, to see if they know what's happened. When you've hung about as long as you dare, leave your bundle and say you'll call in again for it. Then see if Baxter's store is open. I don't believe it will be, and if it Isn't, look for a light in his kitchen window, and prowl about till you know that Waitstill and the Deacon have gone up to their bedrooms. Then go to Uncle Bart's and find out if Patty is there.”
Rod's eyes grew bigger and bigger: “Shall I talk to her?” he asked; “and what'll I say?”