“I don't know; but I am sure it is for no good. When did they look at the entry?”
“About two days ago, the last time. When they first looked at it I was not at home. My wife was at my office when Roper came and asked permission to see the date of a conveyance which he himself had made. This was only a ruse. Two days after he came and told me that one of his clients wanted to buy land from Darrell, and wished to see what sort of a title he had. I, of course, let him see it. Gasbang came after, and that made me suspicious.”
Clarence thanked the notary, and drove home as fast as the uneven road permitted. He felt that he must at last disclose to his father all about that land transaction, and feared that he would be angry. His fears, he saw, were only too well founded as soon as he arrived home.
The family were at supper when he drove up to the door. On hearing the sound of wheels, Everett left the table and hastened to meet him. All his brothers and sisters would gladly have done the same, but a look from their mother kept them in their chairs.
In a few words Everett condensed the unfortunate occurrences of the previous day and evening, ending his hurried statement by saying that the entire family hoped that Clarence's influence might appease their father's irritation when nothing else would.
“No; I am sure that if mother has failed, I shall have no effect at all,” Clarence said. “But are you sure that there is nothing else to anger him? The fact alone of my having paid for the land, and at my mother's request, would not so infuriate him while in his normal state of mind. There must be some other irritating circumstance.”
“None that we know of.”
“I am glad he did not strike the Don.”
“So am I, though I have a big bump to testify that he struck me, and I suppose Tano has another to speak for him.”
Clarence told the servant who came to take the horses to the stable to leave them where they were, only throwing a blanket on, as he had driven them very fast. He and Everett then walked into the hall, carrying some small parcels which he (as usual) had brought home—one of those parcels being a beautiful pipe, for which he had paid forty dollars, and a lot of fine tobacco, for his father.