han what is in
easy reach. If you've got any gumption, you'll make him think you are
having a mighty good time with Bascom Bates to-day. If Bascom keeps
coming to see you it will make him think all the more of you, too.
Bates belongs to mighty nigh as good stock as he does anyway, and folks
say he is the sharpest trader and note-shaver in the county. Ef you
don't encourage him to come regular I shall do it for you. And if I
ever get a chance I'll throw out a hint to Westerfelt that you have a
little leaning towards the law anyway."

"I don't want you to do that, mother," objected Harriet, quite
seriously.

Mrs. Floyd laughed slyly as she turned away. "You leave them two Jakes
to me. I feel like I was a girl again. We used to have lots o' fun
with Mr. Floyd, me 'n' mother did. Did I ever tell you the time me'n'
her--" But Harriet, with a preoccupied air, had turned away.

Chapter XVIII

Westerfelt went back to the stable and ordered Jake to get out his
horse and buggy. Washburn watched him over the back of the mule he was
hitching to a spring wagon and smiled. "Got it in the neck that pop!"
he murmured. "I knowed Bates wusn't a-buyin' a new whip an' lap-robe
fer nothin'. I'll bet my life Mr. Westerfelt 'll lose that gal, an',
by George, he ort to! He don't seem to know his own mind."

Just then Bascom Bates whirled by on his way to the hotel. There was
something glaringly incongruous between his glistening silk hat and the
long-haired "plough horse" and rickety buggy he was driving. The silk
hat was a sort of badge of office; lawyers wore them, as a rule, and he
was the only lawyer at Cartwright. He had bought his silk hat on the
day of his admission to the bar, and had worn it regularly on dry
Sundays ever since. It would have suited anybody else better than it
did him. He was not at all good-looking. His hair was stiff and
rather red, his eyes were pale blue, his face was freckled, and the
skin of his neck had a way of folding itself unattractively. He wore
thick cow-leather shoes, which he never blacked, but greased
frequently, and that made them catch and hold the dust. He never
considered himself carefully dressed unless all the buttons of his vest
were unfastened, except one at the top and one at the bottom. The gap
between the two buttons was considered quite a touch of rural style.
He held the reins, but a little negro boy sat on the seat beside him.
He was taking the boy to hol