"I was about to do myself the honor to wait upon you
at your plantation."
"Then I have saved you a long walk," said Norton. He surveyed
the judge rather dubiously, but listened with great civility and
kindness as he explained the business that would have taken him
to Thicket Point.
"The house is quite at your service, sir," he said, at length.
"The rent--" began the judge. He had great natural delicacy
always in mentioning matters of a financial nature.
But Mr. Norton, with a delicacy equal to his own, entreated him
not to mention the rent. The house had come to him as boot in a
trade. It had been occupied by a doctor and a lawyer; these
gentlemen had each decamped between two days, heavily in debt at
the stores and taverns, especially the taverns.
"I can't honestly say they owed me, since I never expected to get
anything out of them; however, they both left some furniture, all
that was necessary for the kind of housekeeping they did, for
they were single gentlemen and drew the bulk of their nourishment
from Pegloe's bar. I'll turn the establishment over to you with
the greatest pleasure in the world, and wish you better luck than
your predecessors had --you'll offend me if you refer to the rent
again!"
And thus handsomely did Charley Norton acquit himself of the
mission he had undertaken at Betty Malroy's request.
That same morning Tom Ware and Captain Murrell were seated in the
small detached building at Belle Plain, known as the office,
where the former spent most of his time when not in the saddle.
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