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The speaker drew her brown skin into a network of wrinkles. "Where'd she find 'im?" Lafe burst forth, "Of course he can't stay " Mrs. Grandoken checked the cobbler's words with a rough gesture. "Hush a minute! She got 'im over near the plank walk on the hill he was cryin' for 'is ma." Lafe was plainly agitated.
As the men entered the shop, Jinnie backed away and stood with rigid muscles. She was dizzily frightened at the sight of the gruff officers, who had not even saluted Lafe. The foremost man was a stranger to them both. "Are you Lafe Grandoken?" he demanded, looking at the cobbler. "Yes," affirmed Lafe. The man flourished a paper with staid importance.
"Now, Peggy," she began emphatically, "I want you to pay attention to what I'm saying to you." "I will," said Peggy. "Lafe wants to see the baby!" "Now?" asked Mrs. Grandoken, surprised. "Well, he didn't say just now, but his eyes asked it, and, Peg, I was wondering if I couldn't take the little kid up to the jail." Peggy shook her head. "They wouldn't let you in with 'im," she objected.
It's all a mystery, but I think they've arrested the guilty man." Both listeners stared at the speaker as if he'd told them the world had come to an end. It was Morse who managed to mutter: "What man?" "Haven't you heard? They've arrested Lafe Grandoken. The shooting occurred in his cobbling shop, and the gun was found as proof of his crime.
"Go to the kitchen, Bobbie," said Mrs. Grandoken presently, "and give Happy Pete a bit of meat." The boy paused in his stumbling way to the kitchen. "I don't want my Jinnie to go away," he mumbled. When the door closed on the blind child, Peggy shook her shoulders disdainfully. "She'll go, of course," she sneered. "An' we can't blame 'er if she does, Peg," answered Lafe sadly.
I'll make any promise for him you want me to, and he'll keep it.... He didn't kill Maudlin Bates, and I believe you know who did." Morse lowered his lids until his eyes looked like grey slits across his face. "Supposing I do," he taunted. "As I've said, Grandoken knows too much about me. He won't be the first one I've put out of my way."
One afternoon Bobbie sat by the window with his small, pale face pressed close to the pane. Outside a great storm was raging, and from one end of Paradise Road to the other, rivulets of water rushed down to the lake. Several times that day, when the boy had addressed Mrs. Grandoken, she had answered him even more gruffly than of yore.
"Now you're a member of the 'Happy in Spite', Bob," said he smiling. "This club is what I call a growin' affair. Four members " "Everybody's in," burst forth Jinnie. "Except Peggy," sighed Lafe. "Some day something'll bring her in, too." Bobbie had been at the Grandoken home scarcely a week before Jinnie again got into difficulty.
He glanced from the cobbler to his wife, and Lafe replied, "You've been too kind already, Mr. King " "It isn't a question of kindness, my dear Mr. Grandoken. As I've told you before, I'm very much interested in your niece." Bobbie slipped from Mrs. Grandoken and went close to the speaker. "She's my Jinnie," breathed the boy with a saintly smile. Theodore laughed.
That's how the sun looks when it's goin' down, ain't it? And green's like the grass, eh?" "Just the same," replied Jinnie, laughing. "It's a beauty," supplemented Lafe, glowing with tenderness. "There won't be a dress at that party that'll beat it." Mrs. Grandoken shook out the voluminous folds of lace.
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