The ever present dread had struck back that there
might be no father to whom she could report. With a swift recovery,
though, she finished. "So thet I kin fotch tidin's back home es ter
how much we gits."
When these reckonings had been made Brent inquired: "Do you understand
the terms of this contract between your father and myself?"
Her reply was guarded. "We've done talked hit over."
"It was agreed," the buyer told her, "that I was to accept this stuff
and pay for it at some point from which I could deliver it in the
Bluegrass either by rail or navigable water. If you like, I'm ready to
pay now."
He had seen Alexander under some trying circumstances and never with
any hint of breakdown, yet just now he wondered if unexpected good
tidings were not about to accomplish what bad news could not--carry out
the dam of her own hard-schooled repression on a flood of tears. Her
eyes became suddenly misty and her lips trembled. She started to
speak, then gulped and remained silent. But gradually the color flowed
back into her cheeks, as pink as the laurel blossom's deep center, and
once more she gave her head that characteristic toss as though in
contempt for her moment of weakness.
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