It was as bitter a pill as he had ever had to swallow. He turned in
silence and disappeared, and never afterward alluded to the matter.
[Illustration: "There stood Raften, spectator of the whole affair."]
XV
The Peace of Minnie
That night the two avoided each other. Yan ate but little, and to Mrs.
Raften's kindly solicitous questions he said he was not feeling well.
After supper they were sitting around the table, the men sleepily
silent, Yan and Sam moodily so. Yan had it all laid out in his mind
now. Sam would make a one-sided report of the affair; Guy would
sustain him. Raften himself was witness of Yan's violence.
The merry days at Sanger were over. He was doomed, and felt like a
condemned felon awaiting the carrying out of the sentence. There was
only one lively member of the group. That was little Minnie. She was
barely three, but a great chatterbox. Like all children, she dearly
loved a "secret," and one of her favourite tricks was to beckon to
some one, laying her pinky finger on her pinker lips, and then when
they stooped she would whisper in their ear, "Don't tell." That was
all. It was her Idea of a "seek-it."
She was playing at her brother's knee.
Pages:
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208