DARRY MEETS WITH A REBUFF
During these weeks Darry had accomplished many little jobs around his
new home, things that had been wanting looking after for a long time;
for Abner's visits were so few and far between that he had little time
to mend broken doors, or put up shelves where they would save the
"missus" steps.
If he went off with Paul Singleton later he would have no chance to look
after these things, and so he made good use of his opportunities.
He had not seen the young gentleman once since, and upon making
inquiries of the storekeeper, learned that he had gone to a very
exclusive club to spend some little time.
Darry wondered whether he had been utterly forgotten.
Perhaps the youth had regretted asking him to keep him company; it may
have been done on the spur of the moment, simply because he chanced to
resemble someone he knew.
Once in the comfortable club, with experienced guides to attend him, and
the very best points for shooting reserved, doubtless Paul Singleton had
forgotten that there was such a boy as Darry in existence.
So he tried to forget about it, and make up his mind that he could find
plenty of congenial work looking after his traps and assisting Abner's
wife during the winter, with occasional trips across the sound, and
possibly a chance to pull an oar in the surfboat, should luck favor him.
All this while he had taken toll of the feathered frequenters of the
marsh, and many a plump fowl graced the table of the Peake family,
thanks to the faithful old gun, and the steady nerves back of it.
Darry soon learned where there were squirrels to be found, and twice he
had brought in a mess of the gray nutcrackers, though not so fond of
hunting them as other game.
And one day he had delighted the good housewife with four nice quail, or
as they were known in this section, "pa'tridge," which he had dropped
out of a bevy that got up before him in the brush close to the woods
where he looked for squirrel.
He knew that something had been troubling Mrs. Peake, but it was a long
time before he could tempt her to speak of it.
It concerned money matters, of course, as is nearly always the case when
trouble visits the poor.
Abner had been incautious enough to put a little mortgage upon his
humble home in order to help a relative who was in deep distress because
of several sudden deaths in her family.
He should not have done it, to be sure, but Abner had a big heart, as
Darry well knew, and simply could not resist the pleading of his cousin.
No doubt she meant well, but circumstances had arisen that prevented her
from repaying the debt, and for the want of just one hundred dollars the
Peakes were in danger of being dispossessed.
Of course the mortgage was in the hands of a money shark, for even
little villages boast their loan offices, where some usurer expects to
get ten per cent. on his money, and will not hesitate to foreclose if it
is not forthcoming.
Abner's friends were all as poor as he was, and besides, he was so
bashful about such things that he could never muster enough courage to
mention his financial troubles to anybody.
When by degrees Darry managed to draw this story from Mrs. Peake he
thought it all over while off on one of his swamp trips, and reached a
conclusion.
That very day he stepped into the store of a man who as he chanced to
know purchased the few furs that were taken in a season around that
section.
He learned that pelts were bringing unusually good prices, and the party
quoted as high as eighty cents for fall muskrat skins, properly treated.
When he got home, Darry counted his catch and found that he had some
twenty-six in stock; with these he went back to the dealer, and struck a
bargain whereby he came away with fourteen dollars in his pocket.
Then he made for the office of the lawyer who held the mortgage,
thinking he could pay up the arrears of interest, and bring happiness to
the face of his kind benefactress.
Just there he struck a snag.
The loan shark refused to accept the money.
He claimed that since they had defaulted on the interest the entire
amount was due, and that he meant to have it, or foreclose.
Darry knew little of law, but he saw that Darius Quarles meant business,
and suspected that for some reason he meant to hold to his advantage and
give Abner Peake more or less trouble.
"Mr. Quarles, if you would only accept this interest now, I think I can
promise that the whole sum will be paid by spring," Darry said, eagerly.
This was, of course, just what the lawyer did not want. He pretended to
look skeptical, and shook his head.
"I suppose you are the boy Peake has adopted. Where did you get this
money, may I ask? Did Nancy send you here with it?" he went on; and from
the look in his cold, blue eyes, it was apparent that he would have
enjoyed having the woman on her knees before him.
Darius Quarles was a very small-minded man evidently; even a boy like
Darry could understand that.
"No, she does not know I have come here," replied our hero.
"Then where did you get the money? Boys as a rule don't sport such sums
as fourteen dollars in a bunch. I haven't heard of any bank being
robbed, or a sportsman being held up; but you understand, it looks
suspicious, boy."
Darry flushed with mortification at the insult; but because of Mrs.
Peake he managed to bite his lips and refrain from telling the
curmudgeon just what he thought of him.
"I received that fourteen dollars not ten minutes ago from a merchant in
this village. He will vouch for it if you ask him," he said, quietly,
though his eyes flashed fire.
"Just mention his name, if you please. I might take a notion to drop in
and see if he corroborates your assertion. As I am a magistrate as well
as a lawyer, it is my bounden duty to make sure there is nothing crooked
in such transactions as come under my observation. Who is the man?"
He tried to look stern, but the attempt was a failure. Nature had made
Mr. Quarles only to appear small and mean.
"It was Mr. Ketcham, the hardware man," the boy answered.
"And what would he be paying you this munificent sum for? So far as I
know you have never worked for Ketcham, boy. Now, be careful not to
commit yourself. What was this money given to you for doing?"
Darry smiled as he drew out a paper.
How fortunate that the hardware merchant who sold traps and purchased
such furs as were taken in that region had insisted upon giving him a
little bill of sale, in order to bind the transaction, and prove
conclusively what the reigning price happened to be at the time.
"Please glance at that, sir."
Darius Quarles did so, and a shade of disappointment crossed his face.
"I see you have taken up the same foolish pursuit that young Joe Peake
followed--wasting your time loafing in the marsh when you had better be
going to school and perhaps learning to become a useful man, a lawyer
like myself for instance."
Darry shrugged his shoulders, and his action brought a frown to the face
of the narrow-minded man who sat there before him; perhaps he jumped to
the conclusion that this frank-faced lad did not entertain such an
exalted notion of his greatness as he would have liked to impress upon
him.
"At least that proves I did not steal the money, Mr. Quarles?" asked
Darry.
"I suppose so, though it is an open question as to whether you have any
right to take these little inoffensive animals, and sell their coats to
Ketcham. I think he might be in a better business; but then he always
was a cruel boy."
As Darry remembered the hardware man he believed him to be a jolly,
red-faced man, and with a kindly eye, quite the opposite from the fishy
orb of Mr. Quarles; but then there are some things that had better
remain unsaid, and he did not try to voice his opinion.
"Then you will not do Mrs. Peake this little favor, sir?" he asked.
"Business is business with me, young man. Sometimes it is one person's
day, and then the tables turn, and it is another's. This happens to be
my time. According to the strict construction of the law, and the
wording of the mortgage, the failure to pay the interest on time, with
three days' grace, constitutes a lien on the property. I have a use for
that cottage--in fact, a relative of mine fancies it. Here, I will give
Nancy a chance to redeem her home. Wait a minute or two."
He wrote rapidly on a sheet of paper, signed the same, and held it out.
"Seven days I agree to wait, and if the principal and delayed interest
are not handed over to me by next Tuesday, just one week from to-day, on
Wednesday they will have to vacate. That will do, boy. Tell Nancy I only
do that because of our old friendship. Had it been anyone else they
would have cleared out before this. You can go now."
Darry had to bite his lips harder than ever to keep from telling the
skinflint just what he thought of him.
Thrusting the paper in his pocket he stalked from the den of the human
spider, his mind in a whirl; but grimly determined to try and find some
means for saving the humble home of Abner Peake from the hand of the
spoiler.