“Nancy, this is astounding!”
“And so it is, I warrant you. I’ve kept still, Si, as long as ever I could. Things have been getting worse and worse, and worse and worse, every single day; I don’t go out of the house, I feel so down; but you had trouble enough, and I wouldn’t say a word—and I wouldn’t say a word now, only things have got so bad that I don’t know what to do, nor where to turn.” And she gave way and put her face in her hands and cried.
“Poor child, don’t grieve so. I never thought that of Johnson. I am clear at my wit’s end. I don’t know what in the world to do. Now if somebody would come along and offer $3,000—Uh, if somebody only would come along and offer $3,000 for that Tennessee Land.”
“You’d sell it, Si!” said Mrs. Hawkins excitedly.
“Try me!”
Mrs. Hawkins was out of the room in a moment. Within a minute she was back again with a business-looking stranger, whom she seated, and then she took her leave again. Hawkins said to himself, “How can a man ever lose faith? When the blackest hour comes, Providence always comes with it—ah, this is the very timeliest help that ever poor harried devil had; if this blessed man offers but a thousand I’ll embrace him like a brother!”
The stranger said: