He followed her to the step, looking after her as she walked swiftly away, kissing her fingers to him from the corner.
Across the street, in Seminary Square, the wind was driving the leaves hither and thither aimlessly in the warm October sunshine, and it stole across to Rodney Merriam and played with his fine white hair. The branches of the park trees were so thinned now that he could see clearly the bulky foundation of the new post-office. He sighed at the thought of the changes that must come, watched the procession of automobiles and wagons in High Street, and glanced at the uncompromising lines of the overshadowing flat whose presence never ceased to annoy him.
Then he anathematized it under his breath and went in and abused the Japanese boy because luncheon was not ready.
CHAPTER XXXV
A SETTLING OF ACCOUNTS
“Good-by, and hail my fancy!” shouted Balcomb as Leighton entered the promoter’s office. “Excuse my quotation from Whitman, the good gray poet; but you always suggest bright college years, the dearest, best of life to me, Demetrius.”
“I don’t want to suggest anything to you, Balcomb. I’ve come to talk seriously about an unpleasant matter.”
“The devil you have! You’ve certainly brought a death’s-head with you.”
“You always had the seeds of scoundrelism in you. I had hoped they wouldn’t sprout; but the sprouts are in full bloom.”
“Sprouts don’t bloom; but we’ll pass that with the gloomy silence it deserves,” said Balcomb, imperturbably lighting a cigarette.
“You’ve been taking advantage of Mr. Dameron. You’ve played upon his necessities and got a block of lots away from him for nothing. You’ve also got an option from him on the strip of land out there on the creek where you propose putting up that flat you’ve been talking about. While you were planning this you were going to his house, where his daughter received you with courtesy. And I suppose that, in a way, I was responsible for you. I rather let it be inferred that you were a good fellow, and I allowed you to mention that we had been friends in college, though I knew all the time that you were a blackguard. I really think Miss Dameron might forgive you for involving her father in disgrace, but I don’t think she would ever overlook your attentions to her cousin at a time when you were plotting to swindle a member of the family.”