The man was so overcome by Miss Campbell’s grand air that he fell back a step in astonishment.
“Lady,” he said, after a pause, “you won’t make nothin’ by interferin’ in this here case. This young lady stole a horse out of her father’s stable and run away from home, an’ if you don’t believe it, you can ask him——”
“It was my own horse,” said the girl stamping her foot.
“Evelyn!” the voice which spoke was so deep and resonant it might have come up from some subterranean cavern. It made them all start, and when the name was repeated again, Miss Campbell fairly shivered at the sound.
“Evelyn!”
“Yes, father,” answered the girl faintly.
“Come at once.”
White as a sheet, with her hands clasped together as if to give herself courage, Evelyn turned to the great wooden tower of a man.
“I don’t want to, father. I prefer to stay here with—with my friends.”
The man took out a gold watch as big as a turnip and looked at it.