ine woman. It is a serious matter,
too, for the village. The highway work ought to commence at once; the
roads need it. We may now have to advertise again. That would delay
everything for a month."

"Well, there's other bids," said another trustee,--one of the gentlemen
of leisure,--ignoring the president's sympathy, and hopeful now of
a possible slice on his own account. "What's the matter with McGaw's
proposal? There's not much difference in the price. Perhaps he would
come down to the Grogan figure. Is Mr. McGaw here, or anybody who can
speak for him?"

Justice Rowan sat against the wall. The overzealous trustee had exactly
expressed his own wishes and anxieties. He wanted McGaw's chances
settled at once. If they failed, there was Rowan's own brother who might
come in for the work, the justice sharing of course in the profits.

"In the absence of me client," said Rowan, looking about the room, and
drawing in his breath with an important air, "I suppose I can ripresint
him. I think, however, that if your honorable boord will go on with the
other business before you, Mr. McGaw will be on hand in half an hour
himself. In the meantime I will hunt him up."

"I move," said the Scotch surgeon, in a voice that showed how deeply
he had been affected, "that the whole matter be laid on the table for
a week, until we know for certain whether poor Mrs. Grogan is killed
or not. I can hardly credit it. It is very seldom that a horse kicks a
woman."

Nobody having seconded this motion, the chair did not put it. The fact
was that every man was afraid to move. The majority of the trustees, who
favored McGaw, were in the dark as to what effect Tom's death would
have upon the bids. The law might require readvertising and hence a new
competition, and perhaps somebody much worse for them than Tom might
turn up and take the work--somebody living outside of the village. Then
none of them would get a finger in the pie. Worse than all, the cutting
of it might have to be referred to the corporation counsel, Judge
Bowker. What his opinion would be was past finding out. He was beyond
the reach of "pulls," and followed the law to the letter.

The minority--a minority of two, the president and the veterinary
surgeon--began to distrust the spirit of McGaw's adherents. It looked to
the president as if a "deal" were in the air.

The Scotchman, practical, sober-minded, sensible man as he was, had
old-fashioned ideas of honesty and fair play. H