Page:Baum--Tamawaca folks.djvu/29

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Jim
23

would either blame me or pity me, and I won't endure either from strangers, for it's none of their business."

"I'll remember, Jim. Will you let me present you to Mrs. Jarrod?"

"Not tonight, please. This meeting has a little upset me. Wait till I get settled a bit. You're going to Tamawaca.

"Yes. We shall spend the summer there, if we like it."

"Then, sir, I'll be sure to see you again. Good night, Mr. Jarrod."

The young man walked on, and the lawyer looked after him approvingly.

"He'll do," he muttered. "He has n't crushed down the pride yet, and I hope he never will. But he's got a backbone, and that's worth everything!"

In drawing a chair to the rail he found that seated beside him was the little fat man he had noticed at the Annex. This jovial individual was smoking a big cigar and leaning back