Jed actually shouted it. Babbitt stopped, princ.i.p.ally because the suddenness of the interruption had startled him into doing so. But the pause was only momentary. He stared at the interrupter in enraged amazement for an instant and then demanded: "Stop? Who are you tellin" to stop?"
"You."
"I want to know! Well, I"ll stop when I get good and ready and if you don"t like it, Shavin"s, you can lump it. That Phillips kid has turned out to be a thief and, so far as anybody "round here knows, his sister may be--"
"Stop!" Again Jed shouted it; and this time he rose to his feet.
Phineas glared at him.
"Humph!" he grunted. "You"ll make me stop, I presume likely."
"Yes."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, it"s got to be so. Look here, Phin, I realize you"re mad and don"t care much what you say, but there"s a limit, you know. It"s bad enough to hear you call poor Charlie names, but when you start in on Ruth--on Mrs. Armstrong, I mean--that"s too much. You"ve got to stop."
This speech was made quietly and with all the customary Winslow deliberation and apparent calm, but there was one little slip in it and that slip Babbitt was quick to notice.
"Oh, my!" he sneered. "Ruth"s what we call her, eh? Ruth! Got so chummy we call each other by our first names. Ruthie and Jeddie, I presume likely. Aw, haw, haw!"
Jed"s pallor was, for the moment, succeeded by a vivid crimson. He stammered. Phineas burst into another scornful laugh.
"Haw, haw, haw!" he crowed. "She lets him call her Ruth. Oh, my Lord A"mighty! Let"s Shavin"s Winslow call her that. Well, I guess I sized her up all right. She must be about on her brother"s level. A thief and--"
"Shut up, Phin!"
"Shut up? YOU tell me to shut up!"
"Yes."
"Well, I won"t. Ruth Armstrong! What do I care for--"
The speech was not finished. Jed had taken one long stride to where Babbitt was standing, seized the furious little creature by the right arm with one hand and with the other covered his open mouth, covered not only the mouth, but a large section of face as well.
"You keep quiet, Phin," he drawled. "I want to think."
Phineas struggled frantically. He managed to get one corner of his mouth from behind that mammoth hand.
"Ruth Armstrong!" he screamed. "Ruth Armstrong is--"
The yell died away to a gurgle, pinched short by the Winslow fingers. Then the door leading to the kitchen, the door behind the pair, opened and Ruth Armstrong herself came in. She was pale and she stared with frightened eyes at the little man struggling in the tall one"s clutch.
"Oh, Jed," she breathed, "what is it?"
Jed did not reply. Phineas could not.
"Oh, Jed, what is it?" repeated Ruth. "I heard him shouting my name. I was in the yard and I heard it. . . . Oh, Jed, what IS it?"
Babbitt at last managed to wriggle partially clear. He was crazy with rage, but he was not frightened. Fear of physical violence was not in his make-up; he was no coward.
"I"ll tell you what it is," he screamed. "I"ll tell you what it is: I"ve found out about you and that stuck-up crook of a brother of yours. He"s a thief. That"s what he is, a thief and a jailbird. He stole at Middleford and now he"s stole again here.
And Jed Winslow and you are--"
He got no further, being once more stoppered like a bottle by the Winslow grip and the Winslow hand. He wriggled and fought, but he was pinned and helpless, hands, feet and vocal organs. Jed did not so much as look at him; he looked only at Ruth.
Her pallor had increased. She was trembling.
"Oh, Jed," she cried, "what does he mean? What does he mean by--by "again--here"?"
Jed"s grip tightened over his captive"s mouth.
"He doesn"t mean anything," he declared, stoutly. "He don"t know what he means."
From behind the smothering fingers came a defiant mumble. Ruth leaned forward.
"Jed," she begged, "does he--does he know about--about--"
Jed nodded. She closed her eyes and swayed slightly, but she did not collapse or give way.
"And he is going to tell?" she whispered.
A furious mumble from behind the fingers and a venomous flash from the Babbitt eyes were answers sufficient.
"Oh, Jed," she pleaded, "what SHALL we do?"
For the instant a bit of the old Jed came to the surface. His lip twitched grimly as he looked down at the crimson face above his own hand.
"I ain"t sartin--yet," he drawled. "How do you start in killin"
a--a snappin" turtle? I ain"t tackled the job since I was a boy."
Phineas looked as if he could have furnished some points on the subject. His eyes were bulging. Then all three heard the door of the outer shop open.
Ruth looked desperately about her. She hastened to the door by which she had entered. "There"s some one coming," she whispered.
Jed glanced over his shoulder. "You go away," he whispered in reply. "Go away, Ruth. Hurry!"
Her hand was on the latch of the door, but before she could open it the other door, that leading from the outer shop, opened and Leonard Grover came in. He stared at the picture before him--at Ruth Armstrong"s pale, frightened face, at Babbitt struggling in his captor"s clutch, at Jed.
"Why!" he exclaimed. "What is it?"
No one answered. Phineas was the only one who stirred. He seemed anxious to turn the tableau into a moving picture, but his success was limited. The Major turned to Ruth.
"What is it?" he asked again.
She was silent. Grover repeated his question, addressing Jed this time.
"Well?" he asked, sharply. "What is the trouble here? What has that fellow been doing?"