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You got trapped in a bad deal, and while Adoniah was raving with a fever you took all the money there was and skipped. You was careful to ship all the blame for your dirty work on Adoniah afore you sneaked out a rich man." "Pott, that is enough. There is not a court in all this country that would believe your wild tale. Try it, and see how quickly they would lock you up in a madhouse."
"Tell me where this Adoniah Phillips lives." "Whew! You don't pick the easy ones, do you? You certainly go right after what you want, Bets. But why do you ask?" "Because I want to know." "You'll have to think up a better reason than that." "If he is one of your clients, why don't you make him pay that interest?" "Lawyers may advise, but they can't drive unless they hold the reins of litigation."
I've never seen the man. What is more, not one penny of that vast estate has yet come into the possession of Adoniah Phillips." "Why, Harold! Do you mean to tell me that you know where this man is, and that you have not looked him up? You say he has not received his inheritance? What are you trying to tell me?" "I know what I'm saying. Neither he nor his heir has received one cent."
"Adoniah?" questioned the minister, sitting up with a suddenness that astonished Miss Pipkin. "Adoniah was his first name. I ain't spoke it out loud for years. It does sound sort of queer, doesn't it? I didn't think so then." She sighed deeply. "The spirit of the Lord seemed to go away from me when Adoniah did. If only he'd come back." "He has not left you.
"I didn't mean to speak cross, but I ain't spoke of this for years, and it upsets me when I think of what I done." "We'll not speak of it, then." "It won't disturb me the least bit. It sort of helps to talk about it. I'm thinking all the time about him, how brave he was. He was so manly, too, was my Adoniah."
I ain't never told anybody about that, not even Josiah, and I ain't going to tell you, for I don't think he was square with Adoniah, but I can't prove it." The thud of heavy boots on the rear stair checked further comment she seemed inclined to make, and she dried out the tears that stood in her eyes with short quick dabs as she hurried to the kitchen.
I looked her up, and she told me the whole enduring yarn. It was Clemmie's last letter from Adoniah that set me going on your trail, and the old woman cleared up the fog. I had that letter in my pocket up to your place that night, but Providence or something kept me from showing it to you. That old lady had a picture of her darter Emmie, and it nearly knocked me over when she showed it to me.
But Moses feared the stern God of his fathers, and he went not in unto Adoniah, nor did he turn his eyes toward her, for he remembered how Abraham had made his servant Eliezer swear, saying unto him, "Thou shalt not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell."
The old lady said they kept paying some interest or other on a debt Adoniah owed to you in order to save some property of his. I didn't tumble just then what 'twas she meant. But I found out to-night. When the old man died, Mrs. Rogers shut down on that paying business and began in real earnest to look for her darter." The Elder had slouched forward in his chair.
What on earth has come over you?" exclaimed Miss Pipkin with deep concern. "You'd feel wicked, too, if you was dealing with that kind. But that there Elder puts me in mind of a tramp printer that come to work for Adoniah one time. Adoniah was a brother of mine," he explained in answer to a quizzing look from the minister.
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