It was enough to make a man jump
off a dock.
Fitz's tirade was interrupted by Chad, who appeared with a message.
The colonel wanted everybody in the library.
When we entered, the judge occupied the head of the table, surrounded
by law papers, all of which were opened. The agent was bending over
him, reading attentively, and entering extracts in his notebook. Every
one became seated.
"Mr. Fitzpatrick," said the agent, "I have spent an hour with Judge
Kerfoot going over the title of this property, and I am prepared to
make a proposition for its purchase. I have reduced it to
writing,"--picking up a half-sheet of foolscap from the table,--"and
I submit it to the owners through you."
Fitz read it without changing a muscle, and handed it to the colonel.
Yancey and the judge craned forward to catch the first syllables.
The colonel read it to the end, getting paler and paler as its meaning
became clear, and then, with a certain pathos in his voice that was
childlike, it was so genuine, said:--
"If this is accepted, I presume, suh, you will not look any further
into my road?"
"You are right.
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