Page:Cornelia Meigs--The island of Appledore.djvu/44

28 them, swinging his shoulders and his cane,  yet somehow not giving the careless effect that  he so plainly wished.

“Everybody hates Harvey Jarreth,” Sally explained when he was out of hearing. “I know it was not polite to talk to him so, but  he makes me so angry that I never can help  it. He is always getting the best of people and boasting about it, making money on sharp  bargains, finding out things that aren’t his  concern and then profiting by them. No one can trust him and no one can like him.”

“Does he really want to buy Captain Saulsby’s land, do you think?” Billy asked.

“He says so. My father thinks it would be a good thing for the Captain if he could  sell it, and if there really is such a person as  Harvey Jarreth tells about, who wants to buy  it for a house. None of us has ever seen any such friend of his. And Captain Saulsby is a queer old man; he is dreadfully poor, yet  you can’t possibly tell whether he will agree  or not. It would be like Mr. Jarreth to get the land from him some other way, if he can’t  buy it. He is so sharp at such things and the Captain is so careless!”

They had come to the mill-creek road by