Part 21 (1/2)
”Did you see Mr. Toole?” she asked brightly, to ease Miss Sally's weeping and to turn her thought to other things. ”He wanted to see you about those fire-extinguishers. But I don't trust him. I think he has some plan or other that is selfish. I think he had been drinking.”
Miss Sally's tears ceased, and she sat up, straight and severe.
”Fire-extinguishers?” she asked quickly.
”Yes,” said Mrs. Smith; ”he seemed to think Skinner or the Colonel or someone would want you to take them back. And return the money, I suppose.”
”The money?” echoed Miss Sally slowly. She blushed as she saw that she had misunderstood the attorney, thinking he had dared to advise in her love matters, and then she frowned. ”The money?” she repeated. ”But I gave that money to pa. Pa won't ever give that money back, never! I don't know where on earth I'd ever get sixty dollars.”
As she spoke she heard someone on the walk, and then the heavy feet of the Colonel climbing the porch steps. She heard him ask Susan if Miss Sally was inside, and heard the girl answer that she was, and she held Mrs. Smith's hand tighter.
”Come in,” she called, to the knock on the door, and the Colonel stumped into the room. He was hot and angry, so angry that he did not stop to offer his usual curt greetings.
”Look here,” he said, by way of introduction, ”you an' your fire-extinguishers has got me into a purty fix, Sally Briggs--a blame purty fix-an' I want to know do you intend to git me out or not? I don't want no foolishness. Skinner is after me an' I've got to pay him back them sixty dollars, or somebody'll go to jail for it. You ought to have knowed them wasn't nothin' but lung-testers, afore you set me up to sellin' 'em to Skinner, an' not let me go an' make a 'tarnal fool out of myself. But that ain't the thing now; the thing is, will you pay back them sixty dollars? I guess you'd better do it, an' do it quick.
Skinner'll have the law on ye if ye don't.”
Miss Sally drew back toward Mrs. Smith as he scowled at her.
”Now, you git them sixty dollars an' hand 'em over to me, that's what you'd better do,” said the Colonel. ”I want to git shut of this business. I was a fool fer meddlin' in a woman's affairs in the fust place. I don't want to have no more hand in it. You git me that money, an' let me fix it up with Skinner. He's mad, an' he won't stand no foolin'. It was all I could do to keep him from comin' in an' makin' a row right here in the house. He's waitin' at the gate till he sees if I git the money, an' if I don't----”
”But I haven't got sixty dollars,” Miss Sally gasped. ”I gave that money to pa. I don't know whether I can GET sixty dollars out of pa.”
She was so helpless that Mrs. Smith's blood boiled at the rude brutality of the Colonel, and she stepped forward and faced him.
”What is all this about?” she asked. ”What is the matter with those fire-extinguishers? Why do you come bothering Miss Sally this way? Why don't you settle it with Mr. Skinner yourself?”
”The matter is, them ain't fire-extinguishers at all,” said the Colonel rudely, ”an' wasn't, an' never was. Them things is lung-testers, an'
Sally was cheatin' Skinner when she sold 'em to him. An' the reason I'm botherin' her is that she got the money fer 'em, an' she's got to find it somehow an' pay it back. An' as for me settlin' with Skinner, I ain't got nothin' to do with it. I wasn't nothin' but Sally's agent. I done her a favor, an' that's all, an' I'm sorry I ever meddled in it.”
”But there certainly can't be such haste needed,” said Mrs. Smith. ”Miss Sally is not going to run away. Mr. Skinner is not going to fail for want of sixty dollars, is he? You can wait until to-morrow, or to-night, when Miss Sally can see her father.”
”No, I can't,” said the Colonel doggedly. ”I can't wait at all. By to-morrow mornin' that newspaper feller will have another paper printed up, an' I hear tell he's goin' to give us all plain names, an' I ain't goin' to wait. I want to git this thing fixed up right now. If Sally ain't got sixty dollars, let her go borry it. I got to pay Skinner right now, an' I want Sally to pay me. I want to git shut of this.”
”I don't believe Mr. Skinner is in any such hurry as you pretend!”
exclaimed Mrs. Smith. ”I don't believe he is so ungenerous. I believe he is more chivalrous, I believe HE will have some manliness, if you have not.”
She started for the door, but the Colonel grasped her by the arm.
”Hold on, here!” he said, but Mrs. Tarbro-Smith merely raised her eyebrows and looked, first at his hand on her arm, and then at his face, and his hand fell. He stood irresolute and uncomfortable as she went to the door and called to Mr. Skinner. The butcher walked up to the door, clearing his throat as he came. Mrs. Smith held the screen door wide for him to enter, and he walked into the parlor, holding his hat in his hands, and stood uneasily.
”The Colonel,” said Mrs. Smith pleasantly, ”has told us you wish Miss Sally to return the money you paid for what she supposed were fire-extinguishers.”
”They was nothin' but lung-testers,” said the butcher.
”So it seems,” said Mrs. Smith, ”and it is odd that a man of business like yourself should not know it in the first place. But of course Miss Sally did not know what they were. Who told you they were fire-extinguishers, Sally?”
”The Colonel,” said Miss Sally, and the Colonel moved his feet uneasily.
”Indeed!” exclaimed Mrs. Smith, giving the Colonel another of her paralyzing glances. ”But Miss Sally will do whatever is right. She hasn't the money at this moment. You can wait until to-morrow for the sixty dollars, can you not, until she can see her father?”