Part 42 (1/2)
”Saw Flea goin' up the steps,” lied Cronk. ”I knowed her the minute I see her, in spite of her pretty clothes.”
”Then you applied to Mr. Sh.e.l.lington for them?”
”Yep.”
”And he refused to deliver them up?”
”Yep--d.a.m.n him! But I'll take 'em, anyway.”
”Don't say that outside my office,” warned Everett. ”The law does not want to be threatened.”
Lon remained silent.
”We'll have to deal with Mr. Sh.e.l.lington very carefully,” cautioned the lawyer; ”for he is proud and stubborn, and has a great liking for your children. In fact, I think he is quite in love with the girl.”
Lon started to his feet, his swart face paling.
”He won't git her!” he muttered. ”I've got plans for that gal, and I ain't goin' have no young buck kickin' 'em over, I kin tell ye that!”
Brimbecomb's words put a new light upon the matter. That Flea would be protected by the young millionaire Lon knew; but that the young man thought of marrying her had never come into his mind.
”I don't believe as how he'd marry a squatter girl,” he said presently.
”He won't, if I get her once to Ithaca!”
The mention of Brimbecomb's college town and birthplace brought a new train of thought to the lawyer.
”Have you lived in Ithaca many years?” he demanded.
”Yep.”
”The first thing I shall do,” said the attorney deliberately, ”is to make a formal demand upon Mr. Sh.e.l.lington in your name, and get his answer. Please remain in town where I can see you, and if anything comes up I shall write you.”
Lon gave him the address of a man near the river, and Everett allowed his client to go. Some force within him had almost impelled him to ask the squatter concerning Screech Owl, and he breathed more freely when he thought that he had not given way to the temptation to learn something about his own people.
At eight o'clock that evening Everett met Mr. and Mrs. Brimbecomb at the station. He could not comprehend the feeling that his foster parents had become strangers to him. He kissed his mother, shook hands with Mr.
Brimbecomb, and followed them into the carriage.
He went to bed content with the knowledge that their steamer would sail two days later, and that for six months he would be alone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
”I can't understand why Horace wants to keep those children indefinitely,” said Governor Vandecar to his wife one evening. ”It seems their own father has turned up and asked for them.”
”Is Horace going to let him have them?”
”Not without a fight, I fear. He talked to me about it, and seemed perfectly decided to keep them. I told him to take no steps until papers were served upon him.”