Circus -- Fiction; Maine -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Villages -- Fiction
“What’s the matter, Phin?” he cried, bluffly. “There’s something on
and you might as well out with it. It’s the Looks together against the
world--and you know what the family is!”
“Enough of that, Hiram!” roared the Squire, thumping the table at which
he sat deep in thought, as his brother came in. Dishes fell off and were
smashed on the floor. He kicked the fragments impatiently. “The Looks
are rowdies, plug-uglies and street brawlers, and we ought to be ashamed
to lift our heads in the presence of decency and refinement. The trouble
with you is, you’re too much of a fool to know that you’re cheap--that
we’re all cheap. That’s the word--cheap!”
But Hiram’s good nature was not to be disturbed that morning.
“You’re one of the good old breed, even if you are chewed up just this
minute,” he replied cheerfully. “And whatever’s goin’ on now I’m goin’
to be in it, Phin, and you can’t shake me. I’m your brother and you
can’t cut me out. Now, what is it?”
It was not to be resisted, this frank and honest anxiety to be of use,
and the Squire was sorely in need of counsel and aid. With a glance at
the Mayo youth; who was rubbing listlessly away at a saucepan, his misty
and unseeing gaze fixed on the far hills framed in the kitchen windows,
the lawyer drew his brother out of the room into the yard.
“What’s the matter with your friend, Phin?” inquired the showman. “He
acts like a wax figger with clock-work in him.”
The lawyer explained rapidly.
“You ain’t goin’ to stop her, be ye?” asked Hiram when he had listened.
“I’m not goin’ to let that hound break up that little family,” insisted
the Squire. “Look at that poor, heart-broken boy in that kitchen and
then tell me if he is to be robbed in such a fashion.”
“Oh, he’ll beller like a new-weaned calf for a day or so,” said Hiram,
calmly. “But he’ll get over it and be better off, like the rest of us,”
he added with bitterness. “I’ll go and tell him a few things and show up
what women are in this world and give him a couple horns of whisky and
in an hour I’ll have him singin’ ‘Glory, hallelujah,’ and glad she’s
gone.” He started away briskly, but the lawyer pulled him back roughly.
“One member of our family has tried an experiment on that poor devil and
it has half-killed him. Now don’t you go in there and finish the job.
You’re not an expert on heart matters, Hime.”
“Well, I’ll fetch her back, then,” cried Hiram, unabashed. “You can have
anything you want. It’s only to say the word.”
The Squire looked at him.
“Bodfish won’t land her this side of the railroad at Square Harbour, of
course?” asked Hiram.
“Bodfish isn’t a deep knave,” said the lawyer. “He simply got away early
to avoid observation at this end. He will land her there probably for
the one-o’clock train, west.”
“Simple matter, then. Telephone the police to arrest her and lock her up
till we come.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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