United States or Honduras ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
An', as he allowed he'd given up tea on account of his digestion, nothing come of it. Of course I knew Sammy boy's spots was on'y a teething rash, but men is so queer; spechully if the child's the first, and a boy. Now what " "And the omen, dear?" inquired Mrs. Crombie, who had all a woman's interest in babies, but was just then ensnared in the net of superstition which held all Barnriff.
Blanche had risen from the chair where she was reading, and looked very much surprised. "Oh," she exclaimed, with girlish simplicity, "I thought it was the waiter! N-no; he hasn't come home yet." "I beg pardon. Then perhaps I'd better call later." Crombie made a feeble movement toward withdrawal. "Did you want to see him on business? Who shall I tell him?" "Mr. Crombie, please.
There have been more wicked thoughts in my head within the last hour than for the whole two years that I have been an honest man." "What a saint art thou become, Hugh!" said his comrade. "But fear not that we shall meet again. When I leave this valley, it will be to enter it no more." "And there is little danger that any other who has known me will chance upon me here," observed Hugh Crombie.
As it was, Doc Crombie, whatever may have been his faults, was before all things a man. He turned from Jim with a shrug. "Plain speakin's good med'cine," he said, glancing coldly over his shoulder. "You've spoke a heap plain. So will I. Hit your own trail, boy. But remember, this dogone rustler's got to be rounded up and finished off as neat as a rawhide rope'll do it.
He learned that she was the daughter of Littimer, the rich, widowed banker: her name was Blanche. In these new, stout shoes that did not belong to him Crombie trod with a buoyancy and assurance strongly in contrast with the limp and half-hearted pace to which his old, shabby gaiters had formerly inclined him.
Never once did she refer to Will, or hint again that she had discovered Eve's secret, the secret which Doc Crombie and the whole of Barnriff would have given worlds to possess, but she told her story from the point of view of Jim's peril as a suspected cattle-thief, and his apparent interest in her, Eve, which the whole of the village women were beginning so virtuously to resent.
Now, if there was one thing Barnriff bowed the knee to it was the man who could, and would, make a speech. It had all the masses' love for oratory, and was as easily swayed by it as a crowd of ignorant political voters. Besides, Doc Crombie was a tried orator in Barnriff.
He went calmly on with his work, smiling gently whenever spoken to on the subject. And his reply was invariably the same. "I'm not handling 'placer," he told Doc Crombie one day, when that strenuous person was endeavoring to "pump" him on the subject. "I allow 'placers' are easy, and make a big show. But my 'meat' is high grade ore that's going to work for years.
At first the centre of the floor had been kept clear for the speakers, and the audience was lined up around the walls, but as the discussion warmed there was less order, and Doc Crombie, in spite of his sternest language, was powerless to keep the judicial atmosphere necessary to treat the matter in a dignified manner.
"Now, Crombie," said Dr. Cairn, quietly, closing the door behind him, "what is this story about the orchid-houses, and why did you not mention it before?" The man stared persistently into the shadows of the room, avoiding Dr. Cairn's glance. "Since he has had the courage to own up," interrupted Mr.
Word Of The Day