SATISFYING THE MORTGAGE
While Darry was gurgling with laughter, still clutching the fragment of
coat and the precious pocket-book, he felt a hand seize his arm.
Looking up he saw the puzzled and anxious face of Abner's wife.
"What ails you, boy? Did they injure you more than you told me?" she
asked, as if fearful that he were going out of his mind.
To the further astonishment of the good woman the boy climbed to his
feet, suddenly threw his arms around her neck and gave her a vigorous
hug.
"It's all right, mother, after all; they didn't get it!" he exclaimed.
"What's all right? I don't understand at all," she replied, looking at
the dirty strip of cloth he was holding, and the pocket-book as well.
"Why, what do you think, while we were struggling there on the road,
with me underneath part of the time, that sneak thief, Sim Clark,
managed to steal my pocket-book out of my inner pocket. That was what
made me seem so blue, for I had something in it I meant to show you. But
when he tried to run away I held on and part of his coat ripped away. I
stuck it in my pocket, thinking Hank would like to see it as evidence,
and when I took it out here, don't you see I found what I had lost in
Sim's pocket! Did you ever hear of such luck in your born days."
Mrs. Peake herself laughed.
"You do seem to be a fortunate boy. And they would have robbed you of
what little you have. I'm glad you got it back, and I'm determined to
see Hank Squires to-morrow about this thing. It has gone far enough."
"But I've got something else to tell you. Come and sit down where we can
talk," he continued, feeling happier than ever before in all his life,
for he knew he was in a condition to chase away the clouds that had been
bringing anxiety to her mind for months.
So he told first of all about his visit to the hardware man, and how he
obtained fourteen dollars for his muskrat skins.
After that came the call upon the lawyer and what followed in connection
with his offer to pay the interest due, and how Mr. Quarles had
absolutely refused to accommodate him.
Nancy sighed as she heard what the cold, grasping man of law had said
about settling old scores.
Perhaps she was sorry now she had given him such cause for hatred; but
better the life she had led than one as the wife of a cruel money shark
of his breed.
From this Darry soon branched out and spoke of his trip to the shore,
and how on his return a kindly fate had allowed him to be of material
assistance to the very young man with whom he expected to spend the
winter on his launch.
Mrs. Peake began to listen more eagerly now, for she surmised that
something of a pleasant nature was coming.
When Darry finally placed the money in her hand, she looked at it in
bewilderment, never having touched so much at one time in all her life;
then she turned her tear-stained eyes upon him, and drawing him into her
motherly arms kissed him again and again.
And Darry never felt so well repaid for any action of his life as that.
There was sunshine in the Peake house the balance of that day, even
though the weather without was dark and overcast, for light hearts carry
an atmosphere of their own that does not depend upon outside
influences.
The woman would not hear of Darry's going to see the lawyer that night.
Something might happen to him again, with those malicious boys still at
large, and it would be wiser she thought, to wait until morning, when
the two of them could take the money to Darius Quarles and satisfy the
mortgage.
Besides, Nancy thought she would like to see what the money-lender
looked like when finding his plans frustrated so neatly.
"Thank goodness that relative of his will have to wait some time before
this house falls into his clutches," she remarked, for the fourth time,
since it was impossible, just then, to talk about anything else.
So when another day dawned, while the weather was still heavy they
walked to the village and astonished the lawyer by appearing in his
office soon after his arrival.
Supposing that Nancy had come to beg for more time, he set his face in
its hardest lines, even though pretending to be sympathetic--times were
out of joint, collections difficult to make, and he absolutely needed
every cent he could scrape together in order to meet his
obligations--that was the way he put it, when she announced she had come
in relation to the mortgage.
"Then I suppose you will be glad to receive this money, Darius, and
return the mortgage canceled to me. And you can be sure that Abner will
never trouble you in the same way again," she said, thrusting the full
sum, with interest toward him.
He slowly counted it, and found that every cent, as he had written it
down for Darry, was there.
"Ahem! this is an unexpected pleasure, Nancy. I congratulate you, indeed
I do, on your success in finding someone to take over the mortgage," he
stammered, as his face turned from red to white, and his little eyes
glittered.
"You are mistaken. There will be no mortgage on my home after this. The
money has been earned by this brave boy here, not borrowed," she said,
coldly.
This caused him to look at Darry, and his mouth told that he was
gritting his teeth wrathfully.
"Ah! yes, indeed, truly a remarkable boy. What has he been doing
now--taking the rats of the swamp by wholesale, I presume? Let me see,
only yesterday he had sold twenty-six skins for fourteen dollars, and
now a hundred dollar bill follows. It is amazing. Pardon me if I doubt
my eyes. I suppose the bill is a good one?"
"We will wait here until you go and find out. You might ask Mr. Paul
Singleton, who has a little launch down at the docks, and is a member of
the club above," replied Mrs. Peake, with stinging emphasis.
"Did Mr. Singleton give him this money?" demanded the lawyer, suddenly.
"He did, for saving his launch out in the bay yesterday. And what is
more, Darry expects to cruise with him the balance of the winter. He has
taken a great fancy for my boy. You can find him easily if you wish to
ask him about this."
It was wonderful how quickly the lawyer changed his manner.
He knew who Paul Singleton was, and what wealth he represented in the
exclusive sporting club near Ashley.
"That alters the complexion of the whole thing. Now I congratulate Darry
on his good fortune in making such a good, easy friend. Of course the
bill must be all right if Paul Singleton gave it to him. I will
immediately attend to the mortgage for you, and also see that it is
satisfied on the books at the county office. Meanwhile I shall write you
out a receipt in full, showing that it has been paid."
Mrs. Peake said nothing more.
She felt the utmost contempt for this man, and having been enabled to
defeat his scheme for humiliating herself and husband, wished to remain
in his company no longer than was absolutely necessary.
So she and Darry presently went forth, and how pure even the stormy
atmosphere seemed after being for half an hour in that spider's web of a
lawyer's den.
On the strength of the improved prospects Mrs. Peake felt that she was
privileged to spend a portion of the small sum of money she had been
hoarding against paying the interest, though as it had not amounted to
the full sum she had not dared approach Darius with an offer.
Mr. Keeler, being a good friend of the Peakes, and inclined to be
hostile to the lawyer, she naturally confided her late troubles to his
sympathetic ear, feeling that she could not keep silent.
He shook the hand of the boy with sincerity, and declared that it was a
great day for Abner and his brood when the surf man helped to pull the
cabin boy of the _Falcon_ out of the sea.
Being a modest lad, Darry escaped as soon as he could, and waited around
until Mrs. Peake was ready to go home, when he showed up to carry her
parcels.
The family feasted that night most royally.
Darry himself had purchased a steak in the store as his donation, and
this was a luxury the little Peakes seldom knew.
Ducks and fish were all very well, together with oysters, when they
could get them; but after all there was a sameness in the diet that
rather palled on the appetite, and that beefsteak with onions did smell
mighty fine, as even the good cook admitted.
The future looked very rosy to both Darry and Abner's wife.
When the latter heard what Paul Singleton had said about getting some
place for the life saver ashore, where he could be with his family right
along, the poor woman broke down and sobbed; but it was joy that caused
the tears to flow, and Darry felt his own eyes grow wet as he realized
how she must have suffered while compelled to live in this mean way.
Nancy having been a teacher had looked to better things, no doubt; but
Abner thus far had lacked the ability to provide them for his family.
Now, however, the current had changed.
"And to think it all comes through you, boy. God sent you to us, I
believe, just when things were at the worst. How different it looks now.
I am the happiest woman in Ashley this night," she declared, and it
seemed as though she could hardly take her beaming eyes off his face
during that whole evening as they sat and built air castles for the
future.
It can be set down as certain that Darry found it hard to get to sleep
after so much excitement. Long he lay there and went over all the
recent experiences, to wonder again and again why Providence was so good
to him, the waif who had until the last few years known only cuffs and
trouble.
The morning showed no improvement in the weather, for which Darry
was sorry, because he wished to cross the sound in order to carry the
glorious news to Abner and relieve his mind of the worry that must even
now fill it.
And as the prospect was that even worse weather might follow before it
would improve he determined to go, though Mrs. Peake was rather loth to
grant permission.