"What kind of a hill?"
"A molehill. Didn"t you ever hear of a ground mole, for heaven sakes?"
"Course I"ve heard of a ground mole! But what"s a ground mole got to do with a cigar, I want to know? And you said a moleHILL. What"s a ground mole doin" up on a hill?"
"Not up ON one--IN one. A molehill is what a ground mole lives in, ain"t it? It"s just a sayin".... Oh, never mind! Go on! Take a walk."
"_I_ don"t want to walk. And a ground mole lives in a hole, not a hill, like a--like a ant. You know that as well as I do. And, anyhow, n.o.body said anything about ground moles, or--or mud turtles neither, far"s that goes. No, nor five cent cigars. Now, Raish, I"ll tell you what they"re sayin"; they say--"
"And I"ll tell YOU! Listen! Listen, now, because this is the last time I"ll tell anybody anything except to go--"
"Sshh, shh, Raish! Alvira"s right in the kitchen and the window"s open.... No, "tain"t, it"s shut. Where will they go?"
"Listen, you! I"ve bought those few extra shares of Development because I had some myself and thought I might as well have a few more. I bought "em and I paid for "em. n.o.body says I ain"t paid for "em, do they?"
"No, no. Don"t anybody say that. All they say IS--"
"Be still! Now I bought those shares. What of it? It"s my business, ain"t it? Yes. And I haven"t bought any more. You can tell "em that: I HAVEN"T BOUGHT ANY MORE."
"Oh, all right, Raish, all right. I"ll tell "em you ain"t. But--"
"That"s all. Now forget it! For-GET it!"
Which should, perhaps, have been sufficient and convincing. But there were still some unconvinced. For example, Martha happened to meet one morning, while on an errand in the village, the president of the Denboro Trust Company. He explained that he had motored over, having a little matter of personal business to attend to.
"I haven"t seen you for some time, Miss Phipps," he observed. "Not since our--er--little talk about the Wellmouth Development stock. That was the last time, wasn"t it?"
Martha said that it was. He lowered his voice a very little and asked, casually: "Still holding on to your two hundred and fifty shares, are you?"
"Why, that was what you told me to do, wasn"t it?"
"Yes, yes. I believe it was. Humph! Just so, yes. So you"ve still got those shares?"
Martha smiled. "I haven"t sold "em to Raish Pulcifer, if that"s what you"re hintin" at," she said.
He seemed a bit embarra.s.sed. "Well," he admitted, with a laugh, "I guess I"ll have to own that I did mean that. There seems to be a good many who have sold to Pulcifer. All the little fellows, the small holders. You haven"t, you say?"
"I haven"t sold a share to him."
"Humph! Neither has Cap"n Jeth Hallett; he told me so just now....
Hum!... What is Raish buying for? What"s the reason he"s buying? Have you heard?"
"I"ve heard what he"s told other folks; that"s all I know about it."
"Hum.... Yes, yes. Well, here"s my advice, Miss Phipps: If I were you--if I were you, I say, and he came to me and wanted to buy, I shouldn"t be in too big a hurry to sell. Not in too big a hurry, I shouldn"t."
"Why not?"
He glanced at her quickly. "Oh, he HAS been to see you about buying your shares, then?" he suggested.
She shook her head. "I didn"t say he had," she replied. "I just asked why I shouldn"t sell if he wanted to buy, that"s all. Why shouldn"t I?"
He seemed more embarra.s.sed and a trifle irritated.
"Why--why--Oh, well, I suppose you should, perhaps, if he offers you enough. But I wish you wouldn"t until--until--Well, couldn"t you let me know before you give him his answer? Would you mind doing that?"
And now she looked keenly at him. "What would I gain by that?" she asked. "YOU aren"t thinkin" of buyin" more of that stock, are you? The other time when we talked, you told me the Trust Company had all they cared to own and were keepin" it because they had to. I would have been glad--yes, awfully glad, to sell you my shares. But you wouldn"t even consider buyin". Do you want to buy now?"
He frowned. "I don"t know what I want," he said, impatiently. "Except that the one thing we want to find out is why Pulcifer is buying. The Trust Company holds a big block of that stock and--and if there is anything up we want to know of it."
"What do you mean by "anything up"?"
"Oh, I mean if some other people are trying to get--er--into the thing.
Of course, it isn"t likely, but--"
He did not finish the sentence. She asked another question.
"Has Raish been to see you about buyin" the Trust Company stock?" she asked.
"No. He hasn"t been near us."
"Perhaps he would if you told him you wanted to sell."
"I don"t know that we do want to sell. That"s a pretty good piece of property over there and some day--Ahem! Oh, well, never mind. But I wish you would let us know before you sell Pulcifer your holdings. It might--I can"t say positively, you know--but it MIGHT be worth your while."
Martha, of course, made no promise, but she thought a good deal during her walk homeward. She told her lodger of the talk with the Trust Company official, and he thought a good deal, also.
His thoughts, however, dealt not with the possible rise in value of the six hundred and fifty shares which, endorsed in blank, reposed, presumably, somewhere in the vaults of Cabot, Bancroft and Cabot. He thought not at all of anything like that. He had gotten rid of those certificates and hoped never to hear of them again. But now, with all this stir and talk, there was distinct danger that not only he but others might hear of them. Galusha Bangs and Raish Pulcifer had, just now, one trait in common, both detested the publicity given their dealings in the securities of the Wellmouth Development Company.
But, in spite of this detestation, Horatio still seemed anxious to deal in those securities. He visited the Phipps" home twice that week, both times after dark and, as the watchful Primmie observed and commented upon, each time coming not by the lane, but across the fields. And when he left, at the termination of his second visit, the expression upon his face was by no means one of triumph.
And Martha, of course, told her lodger what had transpired.
"I declare," she said, after her caller had gone, "I shall really begin to believe somethin" IS up in that Development Company, just as the Trust Company man said. Raish certainly wants to buy the two hundred and fifty shares he thinks I"ve got. This is the third time he"s been to see me, sneakin" across lots in the dark so n.o.body else would see him, and each time he raised his bid. He got up to eighteen dollars a share to-night. And, I do believe, if I had given him the least bit of encouragement, he would have gone higher still. What do you think of that, Mr. Bangs?"
Galusha did not know what to think of it; he found it extremely unpleasant to think of it at all.
"Have you--ah--have you told him you do not intend selling?" he asked.
"Why, no, I haven"t. You see, if I do he"ll think it"s awfully queer, because he knows how anxious I was, a while ago, TO sell. I just keep puttin" him off. Pretty soon I suppose I shall HAVE to tell him I won"t sell no matter what he offers; but we"ll try the puttin" off as long as possible." She paused, and then added, with a mischievous twinkle, "Really, Mr. Bangs, I am gettin" a good deal of fun out of it. A few months ago I was the one to go to him and talk about that stock. Now he comes to me and I"m just as high and mighty as he ever was, you can be sure of that. "Well, Raish," I said to him to-night, "I don"t know that I am very much interested. If the stock is worth that to you, I presume likely it"s worth it to me." Ha, ha! Oh, dear! you should have seen him squirm. He keeps tryin" to be b.u.t.tery and sweet, but his real feelin"s come out sometimes. For instance, to-night his spite got a little too much for him and he said: "Humph!" he said, "somebody must have willed you money lately, Martha. Either that or keepin" boarders must pay pretty well." "Yes," said I, "it does. The cost of livin is comin"
down all the time." Oh, I"m havin" a beautiful game of t.i.t-for-tat with Raish."
She laughed merrily. Galusha did not laugh. The game was altogether too risky for him to enjoy it. A person sitting on a powder barrel could scarcely be expected to enjoy the sight of a group of children playing with matches in close proximity. An explosion, sooner or later, might be considered certain. But the children continued to play and day after day went by, and no blow-up took place. Galusha sat upon his barrel pondering apprehensively and--waiting. There were times when, facing what seemed the inevitable, he found himself almost longing for the promised summons from the Inst.i.tute. An expedition to the wilds of--of almost anywhere, provided it was remote enough--offered at least a means of escape. But, to offset this, was the knowledge that escape by flight involved giving up East Wellmouth and all it had come to mean to him.
Of course, he would be obliged to give it up some day and, in all probability, soon--but--well, he simply could not bring himself to the point of hastening the separation. So he shifted from the powder barrel to the sharp horn of the other dilemma and shifted back again. Both seats were most uncomfortable. The idea that there was an element of absurdity in his self-imposed martyrdom and that, after all, what he had done might be considered by the majority as commendable rather than criminal, did not occur to him at all. He would not have been Galusha Cabot Bangs if it had.
He meditated much and Primmie, always on the lookout for new symptoms, noticed the meditations. When Primmie noticed a thing she never hesitated to ask questions concerning it. She was dusting the sitting room one morning and he was sitting by the window looking out.
"You"re thinkin" again, ain"t you, Mr. Bangs?" observed Primmie.