Page:Harold Titus--Timber.djvu/271

Rh right now. I'm at the end of my rope and whether I let go or can climb back depends so much on you."

"There can be no dodging of anything now," he said. "At times it has been easier to trust Providence and put aside thoughts of threatening influences and to think only of the present. But the present and the future are too closely linked today, Helen. I have tried to be your helper. I will try so long as my bones and spirit hold together, but, to be an influence for good, one must have standing, authority or security—I have had little standing among the men of this county, but I have had authority and security because I've kept my hands clean while they fingered the mire of political degredation [sic]. Until now I have been an influence because no man has dared question my integrity. They've dared everything but that—until now."

"Now?"

The old man drew the paper the sheriff had left from his pocket, as if it required great physical effort.

"This," he said, after an interminable pause and in a voice which was husked, "is an order to appear in Probate Court Thursday and show cause why I should not be removed from my guardianship of Bobby and Bessy Kildare."

A flash of rage showed in the girl's eyes. "Be removed!"

"Removed—They have looked over my annual inventory and find that I've loaned fifteen thousand dollars of the children's money on four sections of your land. They are now calling on me to prove that I have not mishandled the funds left to my keeping."

"But you can. Fifteen thousand—and for four sections!"