“If she does, I'll let you know at once, Jake. But I ain't in it. I threatened to kick that kid out when he hinted at something crooked.”
“I heard you, Langdon, I'll take my oath to that. But I must be off now. You know where to find me if there's anything doin'.”
XXVIII
The next day, intent on persuading Porter to accept the money won over Diablo, Crane took a run down to Ringwood farm.
As Allis had foreshadowed, his visit was of no avail, so far as Porter's acceptance of the winnings was concerned.
With natural forethought Crane first talked it over with Mrs. Porter, but that good lady would have felt a sort of moral defilement in handling any betting money, much less this that seemed obscured in uncertainty as to its rightful ownership. She believed very much in Crane's bona fides, and had no doubt whatever but his statement of the case was absolutely truthful. But Allis had refused to accept the money; it would never do for her to go beyond her daughter's judgment. She even thought it unadvisable for Crane to discuss the matter with her husband; it would only worry him, and she was positive that, in his pride of independence, he would refuse to touch a penny that was not actually due him.
“But there's a payment on Ringwood due in a few days,” Crane argued, “and we must arrange for that at all events. If this money, which is rightfully your family's, could be applied on that, it would make a difference, don't you think?”
“I suppose John must settle it,” she said, resignedly; “perhaps you had better see him. I can't interfere one way or the other. I have no head for business,” she added, apologetically; “I'm not sure that any of us have except Allis. We just seem to drift, drift, drift.”
Crane stated the facts very plausibly, very seductively, to John Porter. Porter almost unreasonably scented charity in Crane's proposal. He believed that the bet was a myth; Crane was trying to present him with this sum as a compensation for having lost Diablo. It wasn't even a loan; it was a gift, pure and simple. His very helplessness, his poverty, made him decline the offer with unnecessary fierceness. If Allis had refused it, if she were strong enough to stand without this charity, surely he, a man, battered though he was, could pass it by. He had received a hopeful message from Allis as to Lucretia's chances in the Derby; they felt confident of winning. That win would relieve them of all obligations.