Page:Stanwood Pier--The ancient grudge.djvu/290

Rh Then he walked away quite in a dudgeon. He got as far as the door, and Floyd could not make up his mind whether to laugh or to be disturbed at such feeling over the matter. But at the door Colonel Halket turned and came back.

"Well," he said, and there was a twinkle in his eyes that betokened returning good humor, "they've given him a good name anyhow—and I'm willing my own should be reserved for your first-born."

"Thank you. Grandfather," Floyd said.

"So they've named him after you instead of me," continued the old man, still with a tinge of displeasure. "Well, was n't I just telling you that Dunbar had no sense of proportion? I don't care whether he had a hand in it or not; it's just what I should expect of him; oh, I don't begrudge you the honor; I've had babies named for me in my time—and I'll have more. When the new combine gets to working, about one in every ten babies in New Rome will be Robert Halket Something-or-other. See if they are n't."

This vaunt contained a challenge that Floyd could not pass over in silence.

"I don't see any signs of that now," he said. "I received a delegation from the works to-day, and I don't believe. Grandfather, that they contemplate naming their children after you. Until you can reassure them with a statement of your real purposes, I am afraid they will distrust you. It may even go so far that nothing you can do or say will reassure them."

"I'll speak when I'm ready," Colonel Halket answered irritably. "My plans are working out—but I don't hurry them. I know you don't sympathize; you are no doubt glad to see any obstruction placed in the way. But the movement cannot be checked; and when it is explained to the people they will welcome it—as much as Ackerman and Dunbar have welcomed it."

"And other manufacturers who lacked a sense of pro-