And as the old man relighted his pipe, its bowl spurted angry flashes.
“He’s been speculating in one thing and another. I don’t know to what extent, but that’s what Copeland tells me. He has a way of knowing things, you know. It was he that told me of the sale of those lots.”
Merriam threw back his head and laughed in a very disagreeable way.
“A gambler! Ezra a gambler! Well, I’ll be damned! I suppose, Morris, that where a doctor knows that a man has inherited some sort of poison that lies dormant in the blood, he constantly expects it to manifest itself. He can’t tell just how it will break out, but he knows that it will come; and some day he sees the first signs of it, probably with a satisfaction in the thought that the business of nature proceeds so inexorably. That’s the way I have felt about Ezra Dameron. I knew the yellow streak was in him and that it would show up some day; but I’ll be damned if I thought the bucket shops would get him.” And Rodney Merriam laughed again in a way that made Leighton uncomfortable.
“Now, Morris, if you have anything to propose, we’ll consider it.”
“As near as I can make out, all the property that Mr. Dameron will be able to turn over to his daughter will be the farm out here and the old homestead and the creek property. He sold the Dameron Block about two months ago. He has sold the original holdings and he has not bought any other real property with the money, as the will provided. There is, you know, no penalty for a non-performance of the obligations of the trust. His needs have undoubtedly grown quite recently, for he has been doing business with Balcomb,—fooling away the property. Maybe he’s insane!”
“Don’t be a fool; he’s sane enough; he’s a thief, that’s all!” declared Rodney, irascibly.
“If Miss Dameron wished to take advantage of her rights she might have this last sale set aside. I will undertake to do that.”
“And a nice lot of publicity we’d get out of it, too. No, sir, we won’t do that sort of business. My family has lived in this town a good many years; and some of us have been fools, and some of us have failed; but Zelda has the right key. She’s pitched it pretty high; but we’ll keep it at the same note, if we can. How much did he get for those lots?”
“Twenty thousand dollars; but no doubt my friend Balcomb kept a handsome commission. I’ll rather enjoy settling with him.”