But he crossed it now. And, after a look about the place, ignoring the Captain completely, he walked over to the desk. He did not look happy. Mary, on the contrary, looked very much pleased.
"Good morning, Mr. Clifford," she said.
Jeremiah, who was a little thin man, looked up at her from under his heavy gray eyebrows and above his spectacles. He did not acknowledge the salutation.
"Umph!" he grunted savagely. "You think you're smart, don't ye?"
Shadrach started forward.
"Why, you--" he began. Mary held up her hand.
"Don't interfere, Uncle Shad," she ordered. "This is Mr. Clifford's affair and mine. We understand each other perfectly." Then, turning to the frowning Jeremiah, she said: "Why, yes, thank you, Mr. Clifford, I do think I am rather clever--just now. Don't you think I am, yourself?"
Again the visitor ignored the question.
"What did you go and stick an attachment on that land of mine for?" he demanded.
"Surely you don't need to ask me that, Mr. Clifford. The amount is one hundred and ten dollars and sixty-three cents. I remember it and I should imagine you must; certainly it has been called to your attention often enough."
"Umph! Well, you can keep your darned old attachment."
"Very well; and you can keep your land--what is left, I mean. I think you will keep it for some time--after I tell Mr. Keith the facts. He will be here this afternoon, you know."
It was evident that Jeremiah was quite aware of the time of Sam Keith's arrival. His teeth--the few remaining--snapped together and, as Captain Shadrach said afterwards, he looked as if undecided whether to bite or put back his head and howl. Apparently he decided that howling was safer.
"I was cal'latin' to pay that bill of yours, anyhow," he said.
"Of course, and we were calculating that you would," said Mary sweetly. "Your calculations and ours are proving true, Mr. Clifford. That's nice, isn't it?"
From the direction of the back room, where Simeon was busy with his orders, came the sound of a smothered laugh. Shadrach, upon whom understanding of the situation was just beginning to dawn, slapped his knee. Mr. Clifford looked positively venomous.
"If I pay that bill--that--what was it?--that hundred and ten dollars you say I owe you--do I get that attachment off my land right away?" he demanded.
"If you pay the one hundred and ten dollars--and the sixty-three cents--I shall phone Judge Baxter the next minute," said Mary promptly.
Jeremiah hesitated no longer. He had considered the situation in all its phases before leaving home and the one hundred and ten dollars was but a small item compared to his expected profit on the sale of the North Inlet land. He reached into his pocket, produced a long, dingy leather pocketbook wound about with twine, unwound the twine, opened the pocketbook and produced a blank check.
"Give me a pen and ink," he snarled, "and I'll fill this in."
The Captain reached for the pen and ink bottle, but Mary interfered.
"Cash, if you please," she said sweetly.
Jeremiah looked at her steadily for what seemed a long time. Then she was surprised to see the corner of his lip twitch and notice a grim twinkle in his eye. Also there was a grudging note of admiration in his voice when he next spoke.
"Ain't takin' no chances, be you?" he said dryly.
"No. Don't you think we've taken enough already?"
Mr. Clifford did not answer. He replaced the blank check in his pocketbook and, from another compartment, extracted some bills rolled in a tight little cylinder and wound about with elastic.
"There you be," he said shortly. Then, turning to Shadrach, he added: "Don't I get nothin' off for payin' cash?"
From the back room came a vigorous "Haw, haw!" Even Mary laughed aloud. As for Captain Shad, he could only stare, struck speechless by his visitor's audacity. Mary, when she had finished laughing, answered for him.
"We shall deduct the interest we might have charged you, Mr. Clifford," she said. "Thank you. There is your change and there is the receipted bill. Now, I shall call up Judge Baxter."
When she returned from the post-office Jeremiah was still there.
Shadrach, all smiles, was doing up parcels.
"What are those, Uncle Shad?" asked Mary. Mr. Clifford answered.
"Oh, I thought I might as well buy a little sugar and flour and such," he said. "Always come in handy, they do. Send 'em up when you get to it. Good-by."
His hand was on the door, but Mary called to him.
"Mr. Clifford," she called; "just a minute, please. Are you in any hurry for these things--the sugar and the rest of it?"
"No, don't know's I be, 'special'; why?"
"Oh, nothing, except that if you were in a hurry I should advise your paying for them. I told you, you remember, that we weren't taking chances."
For an instant Jeremiah stood there glowering. Then he did another astonishing thing. He took out the pocketbook once more and from it extracted a two-dollar bill.
"Take it out of that," he said, "and send me a receipted bill afterwards. I always cal'late to know what I've paid for. And say, you--what's your name--Mary'-Gusta, if you get tired of workin' for Shad Gould and Zoeth Hamilton, come round and see me. I've got--I mean my wife's got--two or three mortgages that's behind on the interest. I ain't been able to collect it for her yet, but--but, by time, I believe YOU could!"
He went out and the next moment Mary was almost smothered in her uncle's embrace.
"After this--after THIS," roared Shadrach, "I'll believe anything's possible if you've got a hand in it, Mary'-Gusta. If YOU'D been Jonah you'd have put the whale in your pocket and swum ashore."
