“Oh, nobody,” said the woman hastily; “it’s only what they was sayin’ up at French Village yesterday.”
“What were they saying?” Ruth demanded.
“Oh, just talk, I suppose,” Mrs. Apgarth 82 evaded. “Still, I dunno’s I blame him. I guess if I got as much money as they say he’s got out of it, I’d skedaddle, too.”
Ruth stepped over and caught the woman sharply by the arm.
“What did they say? Tell me, please. Mrs. Apgarth saw that the girl was trembling with excitement and anxiety. She saw that she herself had said too much, or too little. She could not stop at that. She must tell everything now.
“Well,” she began, “they say he’s just fooled the people up over their eyes.”
“How?” said Ruth impatiently. “Tell me.”
“He’s been agoin’ round holdin’ the people back and gettin’ them to swear that they won’t sign a paper or sell a bit of land to the railroad. Now it turns out he was just keepin’ the rest of the people back till he could get a good big lot of money from the railroad for his own farm and for this one of yours. Oh, yes, they say he’s sold this farm and his own and five other ones that he’d got hold of, for four times what they’re worth. And that gives the railroad enough to work on, so the rest of the people’ll just have to sell for what they can get. He’s gone now; skipped out.”
“But he has not gone!” Ruth snapped out indignantly. “I saw him only half an hour ago.”
“Oh, well, of course,” said the woman knowingly, 83 “you’d know more about it than anybody else. It’s all talk, I suppose.”