Mr. Pertell paid a visit to Squire Blasdell in reference to getting
permission to burn the old barn on the Apgar place.
"Well, you can do it if you pay me my price," said the crabbed man,
who was a local judge and lawyer, acting for several clients.
The price was sufficiently high, Mr. Pertell thought, but he had no
choice.
"That's a valuable barn!" said the squire.
"It's only fit for kindling wood," protested the manager. "And that's
what I propose to use it for."
"Well, it's a sin to burn down a building like that," went on the
squire. "But this is a queer world, anyhow. And I want my money in
advance."
He was so unpleasant about the matter that, after arranging for the
destruction of the barn, Mr. Pertell left without carrying out his
half-formed resolution of asking for more time for the payment of the
Apgar mortgage.
"I'd better try to find some other way of helping them," thought the
manager. "If I said they were in hard circumstances the squire might
get suspicious and foreclose at once. Then I would have to take my
company away, and I couldn't get the rural dramas. No, I'll wait a
while. But I would like to help Sandy and his folks."
During the two days that Mr. Pertell and Russ were mapping out the
locations of the various scenes for the plays, the others of the
company were becoming familiar with Oak Farm, and the delightfully
quaint house where they were to remain all summer.
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