As the
party drew away from the inn she dropped behind the elders and
wandered off into a side path to gather autumn leaves.
Ralph, too, started off for a walk, but naturally not in the same
direction.
"Edward!" suddenly said Mrs. Ellsworth. "I want you to turn those
people out of that suite before night!"
"Very well," he replied with a sigh, and got up to do it. He had
wrecked a railroad and made one, and had operated successful corners
in nutmegs and chicory. No task seemed impossible. He walked in to see
the landlord.
"What are the Van Kamps paying you for those three rooms?" he asked.
"Fifteen dollars," Uncle Billy informed him, smoking one of Mr. Van
Kamp's good cigars and twiddling his thumbs in huge content.
"I'll give you thirty for them. Just set their baggage outside and
tell them the rooms are occupied."
"No sir-ree!" rejoined Uncle Billy. "A bargain's a bargain, an' I
allus stick to one I make."
Mr. Ellsworth withdrew, but not defeated. He had never supposed that
such an absurd proposition would be accepted. It was only a feeler,
and he had noticed a wince of regret in his landlord.
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