第30章

"Rubbish! Anything's a question of price.""This isn't.If it was I probably should have accepted Mr.Colton's offer of six hundred and fifty.""Six hun--! Do you mean to say he offered you six hundred and fifty dollars for that little mite of land, and you never took him up?""Yes."

"Well, you must be a...Humph! Six hundred and fifty! The town can't meet no such bid as that, of course.""I don't expect it to."

He regarded me in silence.He was chagrined and angry; his florid face was redder than ever; but, more than all, he was puzzled.

"Well," he observed, after a moment, "this beats me, this does!

Last time we talked you was willin' to consider sellin'.What's changed you? What's the reason you won't sell? What business reason have you got for not doin' it?"I had no business reason at all.Except for Mother's counsel not to sell, which was based upon sentiment and nothing else, and my own stubbornness, I had no reason at all.Yet I was, if anything, more firm in my resolve.

"How about the Lane?" he demanded."You know what that Lane means to Denboro?""I know what you say it means.The townspeople can continue to use the Lane, just as they always have, so long as they behave themselves.There is no use of our talking further, Captain.I've made up my mind."He went away, soon after, but he asked another question.

"Will you do this much for me?" he asked."Will you promise me not to sell the land to Colton?""No," I said, "I will make no promise of any kind, to anybody.""Oh," with a scornful sniff, "I see.I'm on to you.You're just hangin' out for a big price.I might have known it.You're on Colton's side, after all."I rose.I was angry now.

"I told you price had nothing to do with it," I said, sharply."Iam on no one's side.The town is welcome to use the Lane; that Ihave told you already.There is nothing more to be said."He shook his head.

"I don't make many mistakes," he observed, slowly; "but I guess I've made one.You're a whole lot deeper'n I thought you was."So much for the proletariat.I heard from the plutocrats next day.

Sim Eldredge dropped in on me.After much wriggling about the bush he intimated that he knew of Captain Jedediah's call and what had taken place.

"You done just right, Ros," he whispered.He had a habit of whispering as the Captain had of shouting."You done just right.

Keep 'em guessin'; keep em guessin'.Jed's all upsot.He don't know whether he's keel down or on his beam ends.He'll be makin' a higher bid pretty soon.Say," with a wink, "I see Colton last night.""Did you?"

"Yup.Oh, I give him a jolt.I hinted that the town had made you a fine offer and you was considerin' it.""What did you do that for? Who gave you the right to--""Sshh! Don't holler.Somebody might be listenin'.I come through the woods and round the beach so's I wouldn't be seen.What do you s'pose Colton said?""I don't care what he said."

"You will when I tell you.He as much as offered a thousand dollars for that land.My crimps! a thousand! think of that! Ipresume likely you wouldn't take that, would you, Ros?""Sim, I'll tell you, as I told Captain Jed, that land is not for sale."I tried to make that statement firm and sharp enough to penetrate even his wooden head; but he merely winked again.

"All right," he whispered, hastily, "all right.I guess perhaps you're correct in hangin' on.Still, a thousand is a lot of money, even after you take out my little commission.But you know best.

You put your trust in me.I'll keep her jumpin'.I understand.

Good-by."

He went out hurriedly, and, though I shouted after him, he only waved and ducked behind a beach-plum bush.He did not believe me serious in my refusal to sell; neither did Dean, or Colton, or, apparently, any one else.They all thought me merely shrewd, a sharp trader driving a hard bargain, as they would have done in my place.They might think so, if they wished; I should not explain.

As a matter of fact, I could not have explained my attitude, even to myself.

Yet this very attitude made a difference, a perceptible difference, in my position in Denboro.I noticed it each time I went up to the village.I saw the groups at the post-office and at the depot turn to watch me as I approached and as I went away.Captain Jedediah did not mention the Lane again--at least for some time--but he always hailed me cordially when we met and seemed anxious to be seen in my company.Eldredge, of course, was effusive; so was Alvin Baker.And other people, citizens of consequence in the town, who had heretofore merely bowed, now stopped to speak with me on the street.Members of the sewing circle called on Mother more frequently, and Matilda Dean, Captain Jed's wife, came regularly once a week.Sometimes she saw Mother and sometimes she did not, depending upon Dorinda's state of mind at the time.

Lute, always a sort of social barometer, noticed the change in the weather.

"Everybody's talkin' about you, Ros," he declared."They cal'late you're a pretty smart feller.They don't just understand what you're up to, but they think you're pretty smart.""No?" I commented, ironically."Lute, you astonish me.Why am Ismart?"

"Well, they don't know exactly, but they cal'late you must be.Oh, I hear things.Cap'n Jed said t'other night you'd make a pretty good Selectman.""_I_ would? A Selectman?"