And
Blenham, deeming that he had scored a certain point, moved straight on
to another.
"He said--an' she watched an' listened an' giggled--as how he was in
right an' you was in wrong; as how the law was on his side an' he'd
stick it out; how he could take the whole ruction into court an' beat
you; how----"
Old Hell-Fire Packard stared at him, mumbling heavily:
"He said that? Stephen, my gran'son said that?"
"Yes," lied Blenham glibly. "Them was his words. An', not knowin' a
whole lot about law an' such----"
He ended there, knowing that his words went unheeded. The look upon
the old man's face changed slowly from one of pure amazement to one of
pain, grief, disappointment. Stephen, his gran'son, threatened to go
to law! It was unthinkable that any one save a thief and an out-right
scoundrel, such by the way as were all of his business rivals and the
men who refused to tote and carry at his bidding, should make a threat
like that; worse than unthinkable, utterly, depravedly disgraceful that
one of the house of Packard should resort to such devious and damnable
practices. For an instant Blenham thought that tears were actually
gathering in the weary old eyes.
But the emotion which came first was gone in a scurry before a sudden
windy rage. The face which had been graven with humiliation and
chagrin went fiery red; the big hands clenched and were uplifted; the
great booming voice trembled to the shouted words:
"Let him; burn him, let him! I can break the fool quicker that way
than any other; don't he know it takes money, money without end, for
the perjurin', trickery, slippery law sharks that'll bleed a man, aye,
suck out his life-blood an' then spit him out like the pulp of an
orange? Infernal young puppy-dawg! See what it's done for him
already, this rich-man's-son business.
Pages:
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190