"You seem to be meddling a good deal in matters that don't concern you. Did you tell Ben that I didn't pay him enough for his work?"
So that was what they had been quarrelling about! "I told him I thought I could get better prices for it," he said. "I think I can. Don't you consider it probable?"
"What business is it of yours?"
"None. I am simply meddling, as you correctly say."
"Then meddle and be damned to you. As for Ben's carving, I'll never take another stick of it. You can look out for him after this." And he flung out of the room.
Mrs. Bussey began to whimper. "Now what'll we do? Selby was mean, but he did pay something. And there ain't anybody else that Ben can work for."
"Yes, there is," said Burton promptly. "I'll see that he has a chance to sell anything he does."
Mrs. Bussey sniffed, but perhaps she did not mean to sniff cynically. However, Burton felt that the tide of sympathy was setting against him, and he hastened to talk of more cheerful matters.
"I met an old friend of yours on the Reservation,--Washitonka, his name is. Remember him?"
"Yes," said Ben impassively.