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Van Kamp stopped the landlord's own breath. "I'll give you fifteen dollars for the three best rooms in the house," he calmly said, and Landlord Tutt gasped as the money fluttered down under his nose. "Jis' take yore folks right on up, Mr. Kamp," said Uncle Billy, pouncing on the money. "Th' rooms is th' three right along th' hull front o' th' house. I'll be up and make on a fire in a minute.
The other smiled at this flashlight on Uncle Billy's character, and they went out to look at the barn. Uncle Billy came back from the "Tutt House Annex," as Mr. Van Kamp dubbed the barn, with enough more money to make him love all the world until he got used to having it. Uncle Billy belongs to a large family. Mr.
"No, there wasn't, by gum!" "Nothing but the house?" "His very own words!" chuckled Uncle Billy. "'Jis' th' mere house, says he, an' he gits it. A bargain's a bargain, an' I allus stick to one I make." "How much for the furniture for the week?" "Fifty dollars!" Mr. Tutt knew how to do business with this kind of people now, you bet. Mr. Van Kamp promptly counted out the money.
"It is not my wish, Monsieur Benett, but that of Ole Kamp, and I say to you as I have said to others, Ole Kamp's last wishes would be obeyed." "Unquestionably. What you do is not only right, but always for the best, professor." "You are flattering me now, dear Monsieur Benett." "Not at all. But it was a lucky day for them when the Hansen family made your acquaintance."
There, across from each other at the kitchen table, sat the utterly selfish and traitorous younger members of the rival houses of Ellsworth and Van Kamp, deep in the joys of chicken, and mashed potatoes, and gravy, and hot corn-pone, and all the other "fixings," laughing and chatting gaily like chums of years' standing.
"It sartin is!" replied Uncle Billy. He did not merely twinkle this time. He grinned. "How much?" "Three thousand dollars." Mr. Tutt was used to charging by this time, and he betrayed no hesitation. "I'll write you out a check at once," and Mr. Van Kamp reached in his pocket with the reflection that the spot, after all, was an ideal one for a quiet summer retreat.
It was undoubtedly due in some measure, at least, to the efforts of Sylvius Hogg; but he would not admit it, and always declared: "No, no; it is I who am still under obligations to Dame Hansen's children." As for the famous ticket, it was returned to Ole Kamp after the drawing; and now, in a neat wooden frame, it occupies the place of honor in the hall of the inn at Dal.
Ole Kamp had been absent a year; and as he said in his letter, his winter's experience on the fishing banks of Newfoundland had been a severe one. When one makes money there one richly earns it.
Ellsworth cheered up considerably when she heard that Ralph had been met halfway, but her eyes snapped when he confessed that it was Miss Van Kamp who had met him. "I hope you are not going to carry on a flirtation with that overdressed creature," she blazed. "Why mother," exclaimed Ralph, shocked beyond measure. "What right have you to accuse either this young lady or myself of flirting?
Ralph and Evelyn happened to meet at the pump, quite accidentally, after the former had made half a dozen five-minute-apart trips for a drink. It was Miss Van Kamp, this time, who had been studying on the mutual acquaintance problem. "You don't happen to know the Tylers, of Parkersburg, do you?" she asked. "The Tylers! I should say I do!" was the unexpected and enthusiastic reply.
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