Part 62 (2/2)

So that avenue of hope was closed. Egbert had not taken the bonds, and how they came into his possession was still as great a puzzle as ever.

And the time--the time was growing so short. On Wednesday Kent had promised to send his brother-in-law eight hundred dollars. It was Sat.u.r.day when Bradley's letter came. Each evening George stopped at the Minot place to ask what progress had been made. The young man's nervousness was contagious; the captain's own nerves became affected.

”George,” he ordered, at last, ”don't ask me another question. I promised you once, and now I promise you again, that by Wednesday night you shall have enough cash in hand to satisfy your sister and her husband. Don't you come nigh me until then.”

On Monday, the situation remaining unchanged, Sears determined upon a desperate move. He would see Egbert alone and have a talk with him. He had, after careful consideration, decided what his share in that talk was to be. It must be two-thirds ”bluff.” He knew very little, but he intended to pretend to much greater knowledge. He might trap his adversary into a damaging admission. He might gain something and he could lose almost nothing. The attack was risky, a sort of forlorn hope--but he would take the risk.

That afternoon he drove down to the Macomber house. There he was confronted with another disappointment. Egbert was not there. Sarah said he had been away almost all day and would not be back until late in the evening.

”He's been away consider'ble the last two or three days,” she said. ”No, I'm sure I don't know where he's gone. He told Joel somethin' about bein' out of town on business. Joel sort of gathered 'twas in Trumet where the business was, but he never told either of us really. He wasn't here for dinner yesterday or supper either, and not for supper the day before that.”

”Humph! Will he be here to-morrow, think?”

”I don't know, but I should think likely he would, in the forenoon, anyhow. He's almost always here in the forenoon; he doesn't get up very early, hardly ever.”

”Oh, he doesn't. How about his breakfast?”

Mrs. Macomber looked a bit guilty.

”Well,” she admitted, ”I usually keep his breakfast hot for him, and--and he has it in his room.”

”You take it in to him, I suppose?”

”We-ll, he's always been used to breakfastin' that way, he says. It's the way they do over abroad, accordin' to his tell.”

”Oh, Sarah, Sarah!” mused her brother. ”To think _you_ could slip so easy on that sort of soft-soap. Tut, tut! I'm surprised.... Well, good-by. Oh, by the way, how about his majesty's board bill? Paid up to date, is it?”

His sister looked even more embarra.s.sed, and, for her, a trifle irritated.

”He owes me for three weeks, if you must know,” she said, ”but he'll pay it, same as he always does.”

”Look out, look out! Can't be too sure.... There, there, Sarah, don't be cross. I won't torment you.”

He laughed and Mrs. Macomber, after a moment, laughed too.

”You are a tease, Sears,” she declared, ”and always was. Shall I tell Mr. Phillips you came to see him?”

”Eh? No, indeed you shan't. Don't you mention my name to him. He loves me so much that he might cry all night at the thought of not bein' at home when I called. Don't tell him a word. I'll try again.”

The next forenoon he did try again. Judah had some trucking to do in the western part of the village and the captain rode with him on the seat of the truck wagon as far as the store. From there he intended to walk to his sister's, for walking, even as long a distance as a mile, was no longer an impossibility. As he alighted by the store platform Captain Elkanah Wingate came out of the Ba.s.sett emporium.

”Mornin', Kendrick,” he hailed.

Sears did not share Bayport's awe of the prosperous Elkanah. He returned the greeting as casually as if the latter had been an everyday citizen.

”Been spendin' your money on Eliphalet's bargains?” he inquired.

The great man did not resent the flippancy. He seemed to be in a particularly pleasant humor.

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