“A gentleman I have never met, maybe there will be two of them,—but we must pretend they are our very good friends.”
“Why, William, are you crazy?”
“No, ma’am!” and then he whispered something to her, although they were alone, and she, too, opened her eyes very wide but promised to keep her mouth shut.
The visitors came, two quiet gentlemen with good manners and simple habits. Mr. and Mrs. Sutton decided they should be some long lost cousins from the west who were in the country for their health. Thus they explained their visitors to Billy and Mag and their neighbors. They brought a small Ford runabout which they used a great deal.
Mr. Sutton had a long conference with Mr. Carter. There was some more opening of eyes and shutting of mouths.
“What a fool I have been!” cried that gentleman. “I can see it all now. Lewis Somerville tried to make me see but I was quite hard on the boy. Well! Well! What is to be done?”
“Nothing! Just bide our time.”
“See here, Sutton, I believe there was method in that man’s madness when he got two electric light systems. He told me to order one and then said his secretary had ordered one, too. Pretended he had not told me to, and then was tremendously kind and magnanimous about it. I began to think maybe I had not understood,—you see my head hadn’t been very clear for business for many months and I mistrusted myself. I’ll wager anything that that extra battery is running a wireless station at Weston.”
“Geewhilikins!” exclaimed the elder Sutton in very much the same tone his son might have used. “This business is growing very exciting.”