"I don't know much about the practical side of politics; it's full of traps I've never seen sprung, but I know they're planted."
"To be perfectly frank, it's because you're inexperienced that I want you. I wouldn't trust anybody who had political ambitions of his own, or who had mixed up in any of these local squabbles. And, besides, you're a gentleman and an educated man, and that counts for something."
"You are very kind and generous. I appreciate this more than I can tell you. And I'd like—"
"Don't decide about it now. I'd rather you didn't. Take a week to it, then drop me a line to Fraserville, or come up if you want to talk further."
"Thank you; I shan't want so much time. In any event I appreciate your kindness. It's the most cheering thing that ever happened to me."
Bassett glanced at his watch. He had said all he had to say in the matter and closed the subject characteristically.
"Here's a little thing I picked up to-day,—a copy of Darlington's 'Narrative,'—he was with St. Clair, you know; and practically all the copies of the book were burned in a Philadelphia printing-office before they were bound; you will notice that some of the pages are slightly singed. As you saw at my house, I'm interested in getting hold of books relating to the achievements of the Western pioneers. Some of these bald, unvarnished tales give a capital idea of the men who conquered the wilderness. They had the real stuff in them, those fellows!"
He took the battered volume—a pamphlet clumsily encased in boards, and drew his hand across its rough sides caressingly.
"Another of my jokes on the State Library. The librarian told me I'd never find a copy, and this was on top of a pile of trash in a second-hand shop right here in this town. It cost me just fifty cents."
He snapped his bag shut on the new-found treasure and bade Dan good-bye without referring again to the proposed employment.