“Say, kid that’s all right, but I just hate the notion of a—a bargain between you an’ me.”
Sinclair was master of himself again. And his brain was working on those calculations which came so naturally to him.
“See, Annette, I’m just crazy for you, and always will be,” he went on. “Bargaining with you is like playing the Jew game. There’s no sort of need for a bargain. Of course I’m goin’ to marry you. Do you think I’d leave our little kiddie without a father? I’m no skunk of that sort. I just love you to——”
“But you got to swear that Ernie, all the same,” Annette persisted. “It’s your own bargain. You made it that way this mornin’. You figgered you’d marry me if you got your promotion. An’ I was to make it so you could get it. Well, I figger I ken do all you want. I ken make it so you get them at the still with five hundred gallons of liquor lyin’ ready to ship. But when I’ve done that I’d say I can’t draw back. Can I? Once you got your hands on ’em you got what you need. Well, I got to get from you what I need. You’ve got to swear on the Gospel. You got to swear by the swell mother that bred you. You got to swear by all that figgers a thing in your life. If you don’t——? Well, we’ll leave it right there.”
Sinclair realized from the tone, from the cold of her manner, that he had come very near to blundering. He even feared that her suspicions were already aroused. The remedy must be instant.
He nodded and smiled with all the good will he could summon.
“I’ll swear by every god that was ever worshipped,” he said eagerly. “I’ll swear it by my dear old mother ’way East on her farm. It’s my dying oath, kid. The oath every school kid knows, and would hate to break. Do you feel good about it now? You know, little girl, there isn’t a thing in the world I want like you. Not even that promotion we been worrying over. It hurt you didn’t trust me without that oath. But I sort of see now. You got to have it for our—kiddie. Well, now you’ve got it you can pass me mine.”
Annette gestured nervously. She turned from the man’s challenging eyes.
“It—it seems tough,” she demurred.
“What? To fulfil your side of the bargain?”