I
was witness to your meeting that night--I saw him take you in his big
arms and hold you tight because you'd--gone blind while he was away
having a good time. And you hadn't told him! I thought that was brave
of you; and later, when Bryce and Moira McTavish told me about you--
how kind you were, how you felt your responsibility toward your
employees and the community--well, I just couldn't help a leaning
toward John-partner and John-partner's boy, because the boy was so
fine and true to his father's ideals."
"Ah, he's a man. He is indeed," old John Cardigan murmured proudly.
"I dare say you'll never get to know him intimately, but if you
should--"
"I know him intimately," she corrected him. "He saved my life the day
the log-train ran away. And that was another reason. I owed him a
debt, and so did my uncle; but Uncle wouldn't pay his share, and I
had to pay for him."
"Wonderful," murmured John Cardigan, "wonderful! But still you
haven't told me why you paid a hundred thousand dollars for the
Giants when you could have bought them for fifty thousand. You had a
woman's reason, I dare say, and women always reason from the heart,
never the head. However, if you do not care to tell me, I shall not
insist. Perhaps I have appeared, unduly inquisitive."
"I would rather not tell you," she answered.
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