“I suppose you coaxed the money back—”
“Certainly not! It might have been amusing to gather Harlowe in for blackmail; but you can see that it would have involved no end of newspaper notoriety; most disagreeable. I had the best opportunities for observing that fellow in his conduct of the case; in fact, I had a letter to the judge and he asked me to sit with him on the bench. There’s little in the life or public services of Jason E. Harlowe that I don’t know.” He lifted his eyes to the solid wall of file-boxes. “H-66 is filled with data. Jason E. Harlowe,” he repeated musingly. “If I should die to-night, kindly direct my executor to observe that box particularly.”
“I’ve heard of him; he ran for the legislature last year and got licked.”
“By two hundred and sixteen votes,” added Eaton.
“What’s your guess about that thousand bucks? Corrigan must have put Harlowe up to it.”
“He did not,” replied Eaton, peering for a moment into the bowl of his pipe. “It was Mr. Harlowe’s idea—strictly so. And I’m ready for him in case he shows his hand again. Farley has some relations down that way, a couple of cousins at Lawrenceburg. Do you follow me? Harlowe may have something bigger up his sleeve. He ranges the whole Indiana shore of the Ohio; business mostly criminal. The more I’ve thought of that thousand-dollar episode, the less I’ve liked it. I take a good deal of interest in Nan, you know. She’s a little brash and needs a helping hand occasionally. Not that I’m called upon to stand in loco parentis, but there’s something mighty appealing in her. For fear you may misunderstand me, I assure you that I am not in love with her, or in danger of being; but her position is difficult and made the more so by her impulsive, warm-hearted nature. And it has told against her a little that the Farleys were never quite admitted to the inner circle here. This is a peculiar town, you know, Amidon, and there’s a good deal of caste feeling—deplorable but true! You and I are sturdy democrats and above such prejudices, but there are a few people amongst us who never forget what you may call their position. Unfortunate, but it’s here and to be reckoned with.”
“Well, I guess Nan’s as good as any of them,” said Amidon doggedly.
“She is! But it’s the elemental strain in her that makes her interesting. She’s of the race that believes in fairies; we have to take that into account.”
Amidon nodded soberly. He had seen nothing in Nan to support this proposition that she believed in fairies, but the idea pleased him.
Eaton’s way of speaking of women was another thing that impressed Jerry. It was always with profound respect, and this was unfamiliar enough in Jerry’s previous existence; but combined with this reverential attitude was a chivalrous anxiety to serve or protect them. The girls Jerry had known, or the ones he particularly admired, were those endowed with a special genius for taking care of themselves.