Sadie was pretty, capable, and amusing, but he was not sure he would like to see her every day, in his house and at his table. Besides, the house would really be hers, and Sadie would not forget this. She was determined and liked her own way. He had promised to marry another girl, of a very different stamp, but his conscience was clear on that point.
It was better for Helen"s sake that he should give her up, because he was on the edge of ruin and she was much too good for him. Irresolution, however, was perhaps his greatest failing, and now he must decide, he wavered and thought about what he had lost.
There were days when he would not admit that all was lost, and harnessing his team in the early morning, drove the gang-plow through the soil until the red sunset faded off the plain. In his heart, he knew the fight was hopeless; Festing, for example, in his place, might perhaps make good, but he had not the stamina for the long struggle.
All the same, he worked with savage energy until his mood changed and he went off to hunt sandhill cranes. He would sooner have gone to the poolroom, but there was a risk of his meeting Sadie at the settlement.
In the meantime the days got warmer and a flush of vivid green spread across the gra.s.s. The roaring wind that swept the tableland drove clouds that never broke across the dazzling sky, and where there were belts of plowed land the harrows clanked across the furrows amidst a haze of blowing dust. The ducks and geese had gone, and red lilies began to sway above the rolling waves of gra.s.s. Farmer and hired man worked with tense activity, but Charnock"s efforts were spasmodic and often slack.
In the meantime, trade was brisk at the settlement, and Keller found his business made demands on him that he could hardly meet. It was rapidly growing, and his strength got less. Indeed, he would have sold out but for Sadie. The girl was clever and had tone; he wanted her to find life smooth and taste pleasure her mother had not enjoyed. The latter had helped him in a hard fight when dollars were very scarce, and died, worn out, just before the tide turned. Since then he had schemed and sweated to make her child"s future safe.
Now he thought he had done so, but it had been a struggle, and he knew he had held on too long. Keeping store in a wheat-growing district was not a simple matter of selling groceries; one was in reality a banker.
Bills were not often paid until the crop was harvested, farmers began without much money, and one must know whom to trust. Indeed, one often financed a hustler who had no capital, and kept an honest man who had lost a crop on his feet; but the risk was great, and one felt the strain when there was rust and autumn frost.
One bright afternoon Keller stood on the sidewalk in front of the store.
He was not old, but his hair was gray and his face was pinched. It was rather a hard face, for Keller"s glance was keen and his lips were generally firmly set. Yet he was liked by his customers. Now he was breathing hard because he had helped a farmer to put a heavy bag of flour in his wagon. The farmer drove away and a cloud of dust the team stirred up blew down the street. The fronts of the wooden houses were cracking in the hot sun; there was not a tree to relieve the bare ugliness of the place, and the glare was dazzling. Keller at first imagined this was why he could not see the wagon well, but after a few moments he knew better.
He went into the store with a staggering step, and the rank smell of cheese and salt-pork nauseated him. The room felt very hot and was full of flies that buzzed in a tormenting cloud round his head. He wanted quietness and made his way to the dark back office, where he dropped into a chair.
"Go to the hotel," he ordered the clerk who entered after him. "Tell Jake to give you a big gla.s.s of the special whisky. Be quick, but don"t run and spill the stuff."
The clerk came back in a few minutes, and Keller pulled himself together when he had drained the gla.s.s, though his forehead was damp with sweat.
"Now where"s the list of the truck Gascoyne got?" he said. "I"ll look it up."
"Sure you feel all right?" the clerk inquired.
"Get the list," said Keller. "Take that gla.s.s away."
He picked up a pen, but put it down when he found his hand shook, and told the clerk to charge the goods. When the latter had gone, he sat still for some minutes and then opened a book of accounts. He had had another warning, sharper than the last, and had better put things straight while he could. With this object he worked later than usual, and when he returned to the hotel called Sadie into his private room.
The girl sat down, and he studied her, leaning his elbow heavily on the table.
Sadie had a strained look and had been quiet for the last week or two except when she was angry. This indicated that her nerves were on edge, and Keller thought he knew why.
"I guess we"ve got to have a talk," he said. "I"ve put it off, but now"s the time."
Sadie waited calmly. She had courage and knew she must be frank with her father. He did not, as a rule, say much, but he noted things and understood.
"Well," he resumed, "I"ve built up a pretty good business here, but I"ll have to quit and leave you some day, and reckon you won"t be satisfied to stop at the hotel all your life. You"re smart and a looker, and I guess you want to go out and see the world. That"s all right, and you"ll be able, as far as dollars count; but I can"t go with you and you can"t go alone."
Sadie shivered. Keller"s face was pinched, and she knew his health was not good, although she did not know how bad it really was.
"I couldn"t leave you, anyway, and hope you"ll be with me a long time yet."
"It"s possible," said Keller. "All the same, I can"t keep my grip on the business long and want a man to help. But I"m not going to trust a stranger or a hired man. You see where this leads?"
Sadie saw and made a vague gesture, though her glance was level.
"Very well. The man who carries on my business must be your husband.
Now there are three or four of the boys in the settlement who could be taught to run the store and hotel, but I allow you don"t want me to choose from them. Have I got that right?"
"Yes," said Sadie with quiet calm, although her heart beat. "None of them would suit."
Keller knitted his brows and his look was grave. "They"re good boys, and if you had taken one of that bunch, I"d have been satisfied. I reckon the trouble is they"re my kind and belong where I do, while you mean to go higher. Well, that"s right; I"ve put up the dollars to give you a good time, but you can"t get where you want on your own feet." He paused with a dry smile. "I allow you"re smart enough to figure this out."
"I have," said Sadie. "There"s much I don"t know and couldn"t learn here. If I"m to move up, my husband must help."
"Then I only know two men round the settlement who could help. Festing"s my choice."
A wave of color flushed Sadie"s white skin, but her voice was quiet. "He isn"t mine. I allow, in some ways, he"s the better man, but that doesn"t count."
Keller looked hard at her. "I used to think your head would guide you, not your heart; but it seems you"re like the rest--well, I was a very poor man when your mother married me! Now I like Charnock and he has tone; but if you take him, there"s a risk--"
"I know the risk."
"It"s plain! I"d stop the thing right now if you were a different girl, but you know what you want and how to keep it when it"s got. It looks as if you had made up your mind?"
Sadie"s hands moved nervously. She made a sign of agreement, but did not speak, and Keller went on:
"Anyhow, you"d better understand what you"re up against. Sometimes you"ll have to hustle Charnock and sometimes hold him tight. You must keep him off the liquor, and maybe stop him getting after other girls.
Then when you sell out the business, you"ll hold the dollars."
For a moment Sadie turned her head and then got up and stood by her father"s chair. Her look was strained but resolute as she put her hand on his arm.
"I know all that! Bob has plenty of faults, but he"s the man I love."
Keller took and pressed her hand. He had some misgivings, but he knew his daughter.
"We all like Charnock, and though I wouldn"t trust him far, I can trust you. I think you"ve got that right and won"t forget. Very well, since you want Charnock I"ll get him for you."
Sadie stooped and kissed him and then went out. She was moved, but there was nothing to be said. Her father was not a sentimentalist, but he had never failed her and would not do so now. When she sat down in her room, however, her face was grave. Her courage was high, but she felt half afraid. Although she loved Bob Charnock, life with him might be difficult. He was older than she and knew much more, but she must lead him and be firm where he was weak. It was a hard task for an ignorant girl, but she resolved to carry it out.
Next morning Keller went down the street and entered a wooden building filled with gaudily painted mowers and plows. He was not the man to waste time when he had made a plan, and moreover felt that he had not much time to lose. Finding the implement dealer in his office, he sat down, breathing rather hard.
"You don"t look very spry this morning," the dealer remarked.
"I don"t feel so bright. The boys have been rushing me the last week or two. Say, trade is booming now!"
"It surely is. I could sell more machines than I"ve got, but I"ve got a lot of money standing out, and after the bad harvest last fall, don"t know who to trust."
They compared notes about their customers, and presently the dealer remarked: "Charnock was in a few days ago, asking about a new wagon, a mower, and some small tools."
"Ah!" said Keller, rather sharply. "Then it looks as if he meant to hold on! He reckoned, not long since, that he"d have to quit. But what did you tell him?"
"To come again. I"d like to keep Bob Charnock up, but guess it"s dangerous. Owes me a pile. How does he stand with you?"
Keller supplied the information, and the other looked thoughtful.
"Didn"t know it was quite so bad as that. I allow I"d better not let him have the goods."
"Well, I reckon he"s trying the new man at Concord. Smith said he met him there yesterday."