“Phil,––I––I’ve a right to know;––I––we–––”
Phil’s hand closed tightly on hers and, as they glided rapidly over the snow toward Vernock, he told her what he had told Jim only the night before.
“Oh, the brute! The coward!” was all Eileen’s bloodless lips allowed to pass, as she sat staring blankly ahead of her, her face pale and her hands working together on her lap.
“And that––that snake had the impertinence to ask me to marry him,” she continued later, “still thinks he may induce my father to agree to a marriage between us. I think that he is working up some scheme now to get daddy too heavily involved, so that we may have to use him. The miserable hound!––as if my dad would think of coercing me into marrying him!”
“You aren’t afraid of Brenchfield, Eileen? Because, if you are, I’ll throttle the life out of him.”
“No, no! I am not a bit afraid of Mayor Brenchfield,––not now. But I am afraid for my father.
“Brenchfield has a scheme for grabbing the land in the Valley whenever, wherever, and by whatever means he can. He has infected father with the same desire. They buy, and buy, and buy––vying each other in their daring. No one knows––they hardly know themselves––how much they really have.”
“But don’t they turn it over?”
“No! Everyone else does and gets rich in the process. They buy, and buy, and when offered a big advance 317 on their purchase price they refuse to sell. They think this advancing in prices will go on for ever. The bank keeps on lending them money when they run short, taking their holdings as security in return. After all, daddy really owns but an interest in the properties––and a precarious interest at that. The banks won’t lose. Allow them! But they have no right to encourage this kind of business;––it is bad for the country at large.”
“That is true enough, but still, I think property will go on advancing for quite a little time yet,” said Phil. “Every tendency points that way. Settlers from Ontario and Manitoba farms are coming in here by the hundreds to ranch, on account of the less rigorous climate. The Valley is the favourite in Canada for Old Country people with capital who are anxious to do fruit farming, and they are pouring in all the time. I can see nothing but increases in values for some time to come, Eileen.”