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I told you that I was going to marry Miss Shellington and not even that damned brother of hers can prevent it!" For a long time after Everett had left the hut Lon sat meditating over what he had heard. He wondered if Everett really loved Ann, and, if he did, how he could wish for Flea.
"The question is, would you, for a good sum of money, be willing to give her to me?" "Why give her to ye, Mister why?" His voice rose to a shout. "I want her," Everett answered quietly. "What for?" "I love her." "Ye want to marry her?" muttered Lon vindictively. "No," drawled Everett; "I am going to marry Miss Shellington." "Good God! ye don't mean it!
Fledra lay with her face to the wall as if asleep. Miss Shellington bent over her, and then crept quietly out to allow the girl to rest another hour. No sooner had the door closed than Fledra sat up with clenched fists, her face blanched with terror. She could not confront the inevitable without help.
Fledra did not cease combing her curls before the mirror when she welcomed Miss Shellington. "I simply couldn't go to bed, child," said Ann, "until I came to see you again. I feel so little like sleeping!" Fledra turned a blushing, happy face upon her friend. "And I'm not going to sleep tonight, either. I'm going to stay awake all night and be glad."
Miss Shellington colored and partly rose; but she had no chance to speak, for Mildred was saying: "Oh, dear! how you must miss her! Is she dead? And haven't you any father, either?" "Yep," said Flukey; "but he ain't no good. He hates us, he does, and worse than that, he's a thief!" Mildred drew back with a shocked cry. Ann was up instantly; while Fledra got to her feet with effort.
He had purposely applied to Shellington in his home, fearing that he might meet Governor Vandecar in Horace's office. As long as everyone thought the children his, he could hold to the point that they had to go back with him. He would make no compromise for money with the protectors of his children; for he had rather have their bodies to torment than be the richest man in the state.
Did Horace tell you where they lived?" "Yes, near Ithaca somewhere. I think he said they had a shanty on Cayuga Lake." "One of the squatters?" "Yes." "I remember very well," remarked Mrs. Vandecar after a moment's thought, "when I went to Ithaca with Ann Shellington, and Horace and Everett were graduated from the university, that we went up the lake in Brimbecomb's yacht.
"I believe that, too," answered Flea, "and if we hadn't been hungry we'd never have stealed, and we wouldn't have found Mr. and Miss Shellington. Yet she says it's wicked to steal." "So it be, Flea, and ye know it. All ye're tryin' to do now is not to believe about that Jesus. I bet somethin'll come that'll make ye believe it."
Fledra's radiant face rose before his mental vision, and he swallowed hard, as he thought of her relation to the brutal fellow before him. "Walk in here, please," he said. Then he bade the servant call his sister. Miss Shellington obeyed the summons so quickly that her brother was indicating a chair for the squatter as she walked in.
Having gained no satisfaction from Miss Shellington, he was seeking information from Horace. "We don't think of either one of them as beggars," interjected Horace. "Both Ann and I have grown very fond of them." In former days the two young men had been on terms of intimacy. Everett presumed now upon that friendship by speaking plainly: "Are you going to keep them much longer?" he asked.
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