Part 18 (1/2)
”We are, Mr. d.i.c.ks. What can you expect, after the way you have treated me?”
”I--I couldn't help votin' in the committee with the squire and Ben Hooker,” returned the storekeeper, lamely. ”They said it was a clear case against you.”
”And therefore you wouldn't give me a chance to clear myself,” said Ralph, bitterly. ”How much is the bill?”
”Three dollars and nineteen cents. I'll call it three dollars if you'll keep on buying here,” went on Uriah, desperately.
It made his heart fairly ache to see trade going to one of the rival stores.
”I prefer to settle in full,” rejoined the boy, coolly. ”Take the three dollars and nineteen cents out of this five-dollar bill.”
With an inward groan, Uriah took out the amount, handed back the change, and crossed the account from the book.
”Got anything to do?” he asked, a sudden idea flas.h.i.+ng through his head.
”Not yet.”
”I might take you on here--I need a boy.”
”And what would you pay?” questioned Ralph, although he knew about what to expect from the miserly man he was addressing.
”Well, I'd be willin' to pay a big boy like you two dollars and a half a week. I wouldn't pay a small boy so much.”
”Thank you, but I wouldn't work for that, even if I cared to work for you, Mr. d.i.c.ks. Two dollars and a half wouldn't run our house.”
”I would let you have your groceries at cost,” said Uriah, as an extra inducement.
The truth was, many of his customers had upbraided him for aiding in the discharge of Ralph as bridge tender, and he wished to set himself right with these folks.
”I do not care to work for you, sir. I think I can get work I will like better and which will pay more elsewhere.”
The storekeeper's face fell, and he closed the dirty ledger with a slam.
”All right, Ralph, suit yourself. But if you starve to death, don't lay it at my door, mind that!”
”No fear of my starving,” returned the boy, lightly, and he left the store.
Uriah watched him from behind the dirty windows of his place. He heaved a big sigh as he saw Ralph enter the opposition store just across the way, and groaned aloud when the youth came out with half-a-dozen packages under his arm, and started for home.
”I guess I put my foot into it when I sided with the squire,” he meditated.
”But it had to be done. Anyway, the squire's trade is bigger than the Nelsons', so I'm better off than I might be,” and, thus consoling himself, he went back to his accounts.
To Uriah d.i.c.ks all such matters were questions of dollars and cents, not of justice.
When Ralph arrived home, he told his mother of the storekeeper's offer.
”Do you think I did wrong in refusing?” he asked.