"WELL, Philip," said Caleb, as the two men met on the piazza before
sunrise Monday morning, "as Sunday's gone an' as there's no one here
but you an' I, let's talk business a little bit. You mustn't think that
my having taken a wife is going to make me an extra drag on you, an'
right after a cyclone, too. My salary's enough to support two on the
best that Claybanks can provide, an' if you're hard pushed, I can get
along without drawin' anythin' for a year, for I've always kept a few
hundred ahead against a time when I might break down entirely. I've
told Mary how your wife's been in the store a great part of the time,
an' there's nothin' that Mary'd like better than to do the same thing,
if agreeable to you an' Mrs. Somerton. She's had practical trainin' at
it, you know."
"She'll be worth her weight in gold to us," Philip replied, "for
I foresee a busy future, about which I've much to say to you. The
cyclone, instead of depressing the people, seems to have nerved them
to new hope, for the town has received much free advertising; a lot
of city newspapers sent men down here to describe the horrors of
the affair, and as there were no actual horrors, and the men wanted
something of which to make stories, that brother-in-law of yours, who
is about as quick-witted a young chap as I ever met, filled their heads
with the natural resources of Claybanks,--rich soil, drained swamps,
plenty of valuable commercial timber, water-power available at short
notice, whenever manufacturers might demand it, and, of course, the
great deposit of brick clay from which the town got its name. I predict
that there will be a lot of chances to make money outside of the store,
so the more help we can have in the store, the better. By the way,
I wonder what Truett has been up to this morning. I heard hammering
awhile ago, in the direction of the warehouse. Ah! I remember--putting
up the old sign over the door--uncle's old sign; it was carried about
a mile from town by the cyclone and brought back by a man who thought,
and very correctly, that I'd like to preserve it. Let's go around a
moment and see how it looks, and remind ourselves of old times."
As they reached the front of the warehouse, Caleb lost the end of a
partly uttered sentence, for over the old sign he saw a long board on
which was painted, in large, black letters:--