Page:Harold Titus--Timber.djvu/345

Rh He sat back, tapping the chair arms briskly with his palms. "You have got cheek! Cheek?—Never seen it before!

"You won't listen to me when I want to buy, but expect me to listen to you when you want my money—an' after you've filled that young cub's head full of moonshine an' turned him against his father—after I thought I'd found something in him!" He lifted his hand and a quick flush came into Helen's cheeks and Rowe, watching her, detected something that was almost fright in her expression. "I sent him up here, a worthless cub; he makes good, where I'd 've said nobody could make good. He makes a fine start an' for th' first time since he was a kid I was—proud of him. And then you pumped moonshine into him until his head's addled. He called on me for backin' in some pine deal and gets me all worked up! I send Rowe here to investigate and find that th' cub don't want to buy, but wants to invest in your damned moonshine!" He was gripping the chair arms now, leaning forward, and his eyes were very pale against the dark mask of his anger.

"He's so full of your theories that he don't even expect he'll have trouble in convincing me—a practical man. And then when he finds out I won't have it, that I won't back him, what does he do? He stands in my way, by damn! He fights his own father when he tries to buy this Pine! He tries to do me at every turn so 's to help you, and ends up in jail because he beats up my—my book-keeper!" He spat out the last words venomously as he glared at Rowe.

One of the girl's hands went slowly to her breast and the made at if to rise from her chair. Her lips were parted