Part 8 (1/2)

”Of course,” she returned, ”if the Interpreter believes it father is bound to.”

The old workman smiled. ”You children will believe it, too, some day; at least I hope so.”

”I wonder if Helen ever goes to see the Interpreter,” said Mary.

Captain Charlie returned, quickly, ”I know she does.”

”How do you know? Did you ever meet her there?”

The Captain answered grimly, ”I hid out in the garden once with Billy Rand to keep from meeting her.”

Flushed with the unparalleled adventures of the day, Bobby Whaley asked his father, ”Dad, ain't the old Interpreter one of us?--ain't he?”

”Sure he is.”

”Well, then, what for did old Adam Ward's daughter go to see him just like Mag an' me did?”

”I don't know nothin' about that,” growled Sam Whaley, ”but I can tell you kids one thing. You're a-goin' to stay out of that there automobile of hers. You let me catch you takin' up with such as Adam Ward's daughter and I'll teach you somethin' you won't fergit.”

The cigar-store philosopher remarked casually to the chief of police, ”This here savior of the people, Jake Vodell, that's recently descended upon us, is gatherin' to himself a choice bunch of disciples--I'll tell the world.”

”What do you know about it?” demanded the officer of the law.

The philosopher grinned. ”Oh, they most of them smoke or chew, the same as your cops. Vodell himself smokes your brand. Have one on me chief.”

CHAPTER V

ADAM WARD'S ESTATE

In spite of that smile of mingled admiration, contempt and envy, with which the people always accompanied any mention of Adam Ward, Millsburgh took no little pride in the dominant Mill owner's achievements. In particular, was the Ward home, most pretentious of all the imposing estates on the hillside, an object of never-failing interest and conversational speculation. ”Adam Ward's castle,” the people called it, smiling. And no visiting stranger of any importance whatever could escape being driven past that glaring architectural monstrosity which stood so boldly on its most conspicuous hillside elevation and proclaimed so defiantly to all the world its owner's material prosperity.

But the sight-seers always viewed the ”castle” and the ”palatial grounds” (the Millsburgh _Clarion_, in a special Sunday article for which Adam paid, so described the place) through a strong, ornamental iron fence, with a more than ornamental gate guarded by ma.s.sive stone columns. Only when the visiting strangers were of sufficient importance in the owner's eyes were they permitted to pa.s.s the conspicuous PRIVATE PROPERTY, NO ADMITTANCE sign at the entrance. As the cigar-stand philosopher explained, Adam Ward did not propose to give anything away.

The chief value of his possessions, in Adam's thoughts, lay in the fact that they were _his_. He always said, ”_My_ house--_my_ grounds--_my_ flowers--_my_ trees--_my_ fountain--_my_ fence.” He even extended his owners.h.i.+p and spoke of the very birds who dared to ignore the PRIVATE PROPERTY, No ADMITTANCE sign as _my_ birds. So marked, indeed, was this characteristic habit of his speech, that no one in Millsburgh would have been surprised to hear him say, ”_My_ sun--_my_ moonlight.” And never did he so forget himself as to include his wife and children in such an expression as ”our home.” Why, indeed, should he? His wife and his children were as much _his_ as any of the other items on the long list of the personal possessions which he had so industriously acquired.

In perfect harmony with the principles that ordered his life, the owner of the castle made great show of hospitality at times. But the recipients of his effusive welcome were invariably those from whom, or through whom, he had reason to think he might derive a definite material gain in return for his graciousness. The chief entertainment offered these occasional utilitarian guests was a verbal catalogue of the estate, with an itemized statement of the cost of everything mentioned. If the architecture of the house was noticed, Adam proudly disclaimed any knowledge of architecture, but named the architect's fee, and gave the building cost in detail, from the heating system to the window screens. If one chanced to betray an interest in a flower or shrub or tree, he boasted that he could not name a plant on the place, and told how many thousands he had paid the landscape architect, and what it cost him each year to maintain the lawns and gardens. If the visitor admired the fountain or the statuary he declared--quite unnecessarily--that he knew nothing of art, but had paid the various artists represented various definite dollars and cents. And never was there a guest of that house that poor Adam did not seek to discredit to his family and to other guests, lest by any chance any one should fail to recognize the host's superiority.

In his youth the Mill owner had received from his parents certain exaggerated religious convictions as to the desirability of gaining heaven and escaping, h.e.l.l when one's years of material gains and losses should be forever past. Therefore, his spiritual life, also, was wholly a matter of personal bargain and profit. The church was an insurance corporation, of a sort, to which he paid his dues, as he paid the premiums on his policies in other less pretentious companies. As a matter of additional security--which cost nothing in the way of additional premiums--he never failed to say grace at the table.

This matter of grace, Adam found, was also a character a.s.set of no little value when there were guests whom he, for good material reasons, wished to impress with the fine combination of business ability and sterling Christian virtue that so distinguished his simple and sincere nature. Profess yourself the disinterested friend of a man--make him believe that you value his friends.h.i.+p for its own sake and, on that ground, invite him to your home as your honored guest. And then, when he sits at your table, ask G.o.d to bless the food, the home, and the guest, and you have unquestionably maneuvered your friend into a position where he will contribute liberally to your business triumphs--if your contracts are cleverly drawn and you strike for the necessary signature while the glow of your generous hospitality is still warm.

And thus, with his patented process and his cleverly drawn contracts, this man had reaped from hospitality, religion and friends.h.i.+p the abundant gains that made him the object of his neighbors' admiration, contempt and envy.

But the end of Adam Ward's material harvest day was come. As Helen had told the Interpreter, the doctors were agreed that her father must give up everything in the nature of business and have absolute mental rest.

The Mill owner must retire.