Part 2 (2/2)
”An' I'd take hit proud ef yo'd all stay to dinner.”
”Ah, Miss Sinclair, I am most happy to know you. Permit me to present my friend Lord Clendenning.”
The Englishman bowed low. ”The prefix is merely a euphonism Miss Sinclair. What you really behold in me is the decayed part of a decaying aristocracy.”
Patty laughed. ”My goodness, what frankness!”
”Come on, now, an' set by 'fore the vittles gits cold on us. Yere yo'
Horatius Ezek'l an' David Golieth, yo' hay them hosses!”
”No, no! Really, Mrs. Watts, we must not presume on your hospitality.
Important business demands our presence elsewhere.”
”Lawzie, Mr. Bethune, there yo' go with them big words agin. Which I s'pose yo' mean yo' cain't stay. But they's a plenty, an' yo'
welcome.” Again Bethune declined and as the woman re-entered the house, he turned to the girl.
”I only just learned of your father's untimely death. Permit me to express my sincerest sympathy, and to a.s.sure you that if I can be of service to you in any way I am yours to command.”
”Thank you,” answered Patty, flus.h.i.+ng slightly under the scrutiny of the black eyes. ”I am here to locate my father's claim. I want to do it alone, but if I can't I shall certainly ask a.s.sistance of his friends.”
”Exactly. But, my dear Miss Sinclair, let me warn you. There are men in these hills who suspected that your father made a strike, who would stop at nothing to wrest your secret from you.” The girl nodded. ”I suppose so. But forewarned is forearmed, isn't it? I thank you.”
”Thet Vil Holland wus by yeste'day,” said Watts.
Bethune frowned. ”What did he want?”
”Didn't want nothin'. Jest come a-ridin' by.”
”I should think you'd had enough of him after the way he ran your sheep man off.”
Watts rubbed his beard. ”Well, I do'no. The cattlemen pays me same as that sheep man done. Vil Holland tended to that.”
”That isn't the point. What right has Vil Holland and others of his ilk to tell you, or me, or anybody else who we shall, or shall not rent to? It is the principle of the thing. The running off of those sheep was a lawless act, and the sooner lawlessness, as exemplified by Vil Holland is stamped out of these hills, the better it will be for the community. He better not try to bulldoze me.” Bethune turned to Patty. ”That Vil Holland is the man I had in mind, Miss Sinclair, when I warned you to choose your friends wisely. He would stop at nothing to gain an end, even to posing as a friend of your father. In all probability he will offer to a.s.sist you, but if you have any map or description of your father's location do not under any circ.u.mstances show it to him.”
Patty smiled. ”If any such paper exists I shall keep it to myself.”
Bethune returned the smile. ”Good-by,” he said. ”I shall look forward to meeting you again. Shall you remain here?”
”I have made no plans,” she answered, and as she watched the two riders disappear down the creek trail her lips twisted into a smile.
”May pose as a friend of your father ... and probably will offer to a.s.sist you;” she repeated under her breath. ”Well, Mr. Bethune, I thank you again for the warning.”
CHAPTER III
PATTY GOES TO TOWN
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