picked it up with as much care as if
it was a diamond, and holding it a foot from his nose--he had broken
his spectacles and was afraid to ask Dorinda for the money to have them
repaired--he spelt it out to the last word.

"Well, by time!" he exclaimed, when he had finished. "He wants to see
you at his house this forenoon! And--and--why, the forenoon's all but
gone now! What are you settin' here for?"

"Well, I thought I should enjoy watching you rake the yard. It is a
pleasure deferred so far."

"Watchin' me--! Roscoe Paine, you are out of your head! Ain't you goin'
to see him?"

"No."

"You AIN'T!"

"No."

"Ros Paine, have you jined in with them darn fools uptown?"

"Who's swearing now? What fools do you mean?"

"Darn ain't swearin'. Dorindy herself says that once in a while. I mean
Alvin Baker, and Jed Dean and the rest of 'em. They was goin' on about
Mr. Colton last night; said THEY wan't goin' to run at his beck and
call. I told 'em, says I, 'You ain't had the chance. You'll run fast
enough when you do.'"

"Did you say that to Captain Jed?"

"No-o. I said it to Alvin, but old Jed's just as bad. He's down on
anybody that's got more'n he has. But Ros, you ain't foolish enough to
side with Jed Dean. Just think! Here's Mr. Colton, richer'n King Solomon
and all his glory. He's got servants and butlers and bonds and cowpons
and horses and teams and automobiles and--"

I rose from the wash bench.

"I know what he's got, Lute," I interrupted. "And I know what he hasn't
got."

"What? Is there anything he ain't got?"

"He hasn't got me--not yet. If he wants to see me he may. I expect to be
at home for the next day or two."

"You don't mean you expect a millionaire like him to come cruisin' after
YOU! Well, by time! I think I see him!"

"When you do, let me know," I said. "I should like to be prepared."

"Well,--by--time!" said Lute, by way of summing up. I ate dinner with
Dorinda. Her husband did not join us. Dorinda paid a visit to the back
yard and, seeing how little raking had been done, announced that until
the job was finished there would be "no dinner for some folks." So she
and I ate and Lute raked, under protest, and vowing that he was so faint
and holler he cal'lated to collapse 'most any time.

After the meal was finished I went down to the boathouse. The boathouse
was a little building on the beach at the foot of the bluff below the
house. It was a favorite resort of mine and I spent man